The Cost of Unity: Rebellion
by Etero Narciss
Summary: The Maverick Hunters fight a force unlike any seen before. Led by the charismatic and idealistic Maverick Marduk, the RLF stand to challenge all that X believes in as they search for Unity; the era in which reploids and humans stand as one.
1. Prologue

**MEGA MAN X FICTION**

**A word to the wise (and not so wise): **This fiction is made out of various rumors that I have heard, and other things purely invented by me. Do not blame me for any "inaccuracies" that you may find. This is, after all, a fiction. Also, this a disclaimer. I won zip of the Mega Man series. So there.

Written by the writer who brought you:

Pang Tong's Journey 1, 2 & 3 (Part 3 still in progress)

Outlaw Star Fic (Secrets of the Kataro-Kataro)

And a bunch of other stuff you probably haven't read from me!



**PROLOGUE**

Ten years have passed since the last real crisis of Earth occurred. Ten years since X and Zero had once again defeated Sigma.

In those ten years, Humanity has once again risen from the ashes. The atmosphere recovered, they have returned to the surface world, and in a surprisingly short amount of time, what was left of the human species were able to rebuild their existing cities and even some new ones. This rapid reconstruction was aided by none other than the reploids, the eternal servants of humanity.

Those ten years were the golden age of Human and Reploid kind; full of peace and rising prosperity. However, with every golden age must come a dark one, and Humanity is falling once again.

Various reploids have once again rebelled against humanity, and it is up to the Maverick Hunters to be the vanguard against the insurgencies.

Commanded by the likes of Commander Signas, aided with the amazing navigating skills of Alia, and spearheaded by veterans like Zero and X and the promising new hunter Axl, Humanity stands a good chance of survival against this new wave of insurgents.

There is one major difference in these new Mavericks, however: In the past, it was always blamed on the mysterious Sigma virus, a virus believed to alter the functions of Reploids and make them turn against their human masters. This time, however, no virus has been detected. Nothing wrong has been found on any of the reploids that were recovered, which leaves the disturbing thought that perhaps they joined of their own accord.

The new rebel forces are called the Reploid Liberation Front, or R.L.F. for short. It is led by the charismatic reploid leader Marduk, whose origins remain unknown.

The R.L.F. claim to have no intention of fighting humans over dominance; they only wish to live freely, but say that the current human government will never allow for it, fearing that they may become too powerful. These accusations are proving less fake and more factual as the human government sends the Maverick hunters against the rebel forces, who up to now have done nothing more violent than a peace march (a very careful peace march). This has caused tensions between the current government and the general populace. This has also caused tension within the R.L.F., who call out to Marduk to strike back. However, he still refuses, and his motives remain unclear as to why.

To top it all off, X himself is proving to be going through some dangerous changes. Mission after mission, he finds himself more in doubt of the cause for which he fights for. Our story begins in one such mission, one which will a cause a devastating chain of events, for humanity and for Reploid kind.


	2. The RLF

**CHAPTER 1**

**The R.L.F.**

"X, Zero, status report!," said a female voice over an intercom. "X, Zero, do you copy?"

"Roger that, Alia" said both reploids.

"Status report," she said.

"We've been besieging the building for two hours without any sign of progress," Zero said. "These guys won't budge."

Just as he said this, one of the reploids from his squad had his head shot off. Zero didn't even flinch.

"I recommend an assault on the target," he said, ignoring the gunfire around him.

"X?," Alia asked.

"I agree," he said, firing with his buster. "We're only going to take casualties at this rate."

Alia looked at Signas for instructions.

Signas pressed a button that would allow him to talk to the team leaders and asked: "Any hostages?"

"No," Zero's voice was heard saying from the speaker. "Both human and civilian reploids were allowed to leave the building as soon as it was assaulted."

"Damn," the commander muttered under his breath.

"Commander?," asked Alia with a confused look.

"All right," Signas said. "Assault the target. Don't let them get away."

"Roger," said both Zero and X.

"Ready, Axl?," Zero said, referring to the young reploid beside him. Axl smiled and cocked his guns.

"I was made ready," he said confidently.

Zero nodded. He looked behind at the squad of soldier reploids under his command. He raised his right hand, made a fist and signaled the entrance to the main lobby of the building.

The reploids nodded. One of them ran from cover and aimed a bazooka at the entrance. He fired, blowing away most of the entrance and silencing the fire temporarily.

Zero, Axl and X all ran inside, followed by a handful of reploids armed with machine guns. A small skirmish erupted inside. Zero jumped to avoid the incoming fire and landed behind three of the rebel reploids. He drew his sword and in a single motion cut them down. X had already charged up his blaster, and with one shot destroyed an entire segment of a wall along with various other reploids. Axl fired down the remaining rebels with ease.

"Lobby secured, sir!," said one of the reploids after a short investigation of the area.

"Good," X said. "My squad will stay here and tend to the wounded. Zero's unit will accompany us to the top floors!"

"Yes sir!," said the reploid, and left.

"Let's go," X said to Zero and Axl, and the three of them ran upstairs.

They met various levels of resistance on their ascent. In some floors there was barely any resistance at all, while on others there were extremely fierce firefights, made all the worse since it seemed that in every office there was at least one rebel waiting for them. Zero's losses were piling up quickly.

"Of all the places to fight them, it had to be a skyscraper!," Axl said as he stood with his back against the wall. They were stuck on the stairway, since the gunfire had incremented to such a level that not even they could pass unharmed. Zero and X were further up, along with other reploids from Zero's squad, returning fire in an attempt to break through.

"There are worst places to be stuck in," Zero said. "Like an actual base."

"At least here there aren't any spikes on the floor," X said.

"Was that a joke?," Axl asked.

Another reploid was shot on the shoulder. He hit against the wall, and was shot to pieces.

"Damn," Zero said angrily. "X, charge up your shot and take them down!"

"What?," X asked. "But we don't know if there are still humans up there!"

Zero blinked. "Are you kidding me?," he asked angrily. "We saw the humans leave, X!"

"I know," X said. "But I can't shake this feeling that maybe not all of them were able to leave."

Zero growled. "X," he said, his voice shaking with suppressed anger. "Not now. Of all the times to have doubts, this is the worst. Charge the shot and fire before I lose my squad!"

X was about to say something against this course of action until he saw another squad member fall down the stairs, his left arm gone. This changed his mind.

"All right," he said. He ran up the stairs and stood beside the edge of the wall.

"Stand back," he told the reploids that were already there. They nodded and went down the stairs. X's barrel was glowing blue. X left the cover, aimed and fired. The explosion rocked the building, and blinding smoke covered the floor.

"Now!," Zero said, and both he and Axl ran up the stairs. Just as Zero suspected, the shot dazed the reploids more than killing them. Taking advantage of the situation, Zero and Axl attacked the reploids before they recovered. When the smoke cleared, they were all dead.

X came up and looked around. The room was full "blood oil", which is what people call the liquid that run the reploids. It had dark red color that looked suspiciously like blood. There was a grimace in X's face that showed his disapproval.

One reploid soldier came up the stairs, followed by what was left of Zero's squad.

"Casualty report," Zero ordered the reploid sergeant.

"Not good, sir," said the reploid sergeant. "We're less than half of fighting strength. We've counted 30 dead so far, and only god knows how many wounded."

Zero sighed. "All right. Take the men and return to the lobby. We'll go by ourselves from here on."

"Yes sir," said the reploid sergeant, giving Zero a military salute. He led the other reploids down the stairs.

"These are some pretty serious people were fighting," Axl said, observing the ruined floor.

"We have to be careful," Zero said.

"Let's go," X said.

They continued going up, surprised at the light or non-existent resistance that they were encountering. Finally, they reached the 99th floor (the building was a 100 floors). They took an opportunity to take a short break before charging in the last floor.

"Alia," X said. "Any information on who might be leading these men?"

"I was just about to inform you," Alia said. "They're led by a reploid called Wreck."

"Cheesy names as always," Axl said.

"I don't know much other than that, but he seems to use some sort of sphere-shaped weapons."

"That's it?," asked Axl in disbelief.

"That's it, I'm afraid," said Alia.

"Unbelievable," Zero said annoyed. "I can't remember the last time we've had such a problem gathering intel."

"These guys are a lot smarter than Sigma ever was," Alia said. "They covered their tracks pretty good. It was a miracle that we even knew that they were going to attack that building."

"That didn't stop us from being too late, though," X said worriedly.

"All right, that's enough!," Axl said impatiently. "We got a break, now let's go!"

Zero and X nodded and stood up. They ran up the stairs, bracing themselves for the worse. When they got to the 100th floor, they found exactly what they expected: a lot more rebel reploids. Zero fired with his buster as he drew his saber with his other hand. He moved so quickly that many of the others, including X and Axl, were unable to react in time. In a matter of moments, many of the reploids were already dead. Zero jumped and was about to cut down the last remaining reploid when a giant black sphere rammed against him and slammed him against the wall.

"Zero!," said X alarmed. The sphere retreated and floated beside a large reploid with black armor and a cruel face.

"Whoa!," Axl said. "Is that Wreck?"

"Zero!," X said, running to Zero's side. "Are you all right?"

"I'll be fine," Zero said, taking X's hand to get up. "So that's Wreck."

The black-armored reploid smiled.

"That's right," he said. "I'm here to kill you two."

"Tell us something we don't know," X said.

"Hey, I'm here too!," Axl said.

"Who the hell are you?," Wreck asked.

"W-what do you mean who the hell am I?," Axl asked incredulously. "I'm Axl. You must have heard about me?!"

Wreck shook his head.

"You've got to be kidding me!," Axl said. "I've been with these two for half a decade and still no one recognizes me!"

"Whatever," said Wreck. He lifted his left hand, and another large dark sphere materialized out of thin air.

"How did he do that?," Axl asked.

"Die!," Wreck shouted, tossing the dark spheres at the trio. They jumped out of the way as the spheres smashed against the wall. Then the spheres began rolling towards them.

"Damn!," Zero said. He fired the sphere that was chasing him with his buster, but the shot just bounced off.

"You're going to have to do a lot better than that!," said Wreck.

X charged up his buster and fired, and this time he destroyed the sphere that was chasing him.

"Pretty good," Wreck said as he saw Zero draw out his beam saber and cut down the sphere. "But don't think that's all I can do."

He raised his hands again. This time three dark discs materialized.

"Damn," Zero said.

Wreck tossed the discs. X ducked and was able to avoid one. The disc cut through the wall like it was tissue paper, and returned, homed in on X.

"What are these things?!," X asked as he narrowly dodged another attack.

Axl tried shooting the disc that was headed for him, but to no avail. Like the spheres, the shots just bounced off them.

Zero jumped to avoid the disc headed for him, and charged Wreck, swinging his beam saber down. Wreck stepped sideways and dodged the attack, then punched Zero on the chest with his massive fist. Zero was sent flying back, and landed with a heavy thud against the wall.

"Nice try," Wreck said. The discs flew back towards him. "But I'm a lot stronger than you seem to think."

X and Axl ran to either side of Zero and helped him up.

"What do we do?," Axl asked. "I don't think we've ever faced someone like him."

"He's ridiculously strong," Zero said. "This guy is without a doubt one of the bosses."

"He probably is," X said. "And I think I found a weak spot."

"Where?," asked Zero.

"Look at the palm of his hands," X said.

Zero and Axl did look and noticed a single blue gem ingrained in each hand.

"I'm sure it's with those that he materializes his weapons," X said.

"So all we got to do is destroy those things?," Axl asked. X nodded.

Axl smiled. "Well, I think I can take care of that."

"I'll help," Zero said. "X, charge up your buster. When we give the signal, fire."

"Don't hesitate," Zero added.

X stared at Zero for a moment, then nodded.

"Hey, what's with all the whispering?!," Wreck asked. "Come and fight me!"

Axl and Zero moved to either side as X charged up his blaster.

Zero fired at Wreck with his buster. Wreck shielded himself with one of the discs. Just

then Axl slid under Wreck from behind, and fired at one of the gems, destroying it. Wreck yelled out in pain.

"You bastard!," he shouted, and raised his foot to stomp down on Axl, who rolled sideways to avoid being stepped on.

"I'll kill you!," Wreck shouted furiously.

He was so distracted by his fury that he didn't realize that Zero was running towards him until it was too late. Zero pierced Wreck's right hand with his beam saber, destroying the remaining gem and pinning him to the wall.

"Now, X!," said Zero as he jumped aside.

"Right!," X said. He aimed quickly and fired his powered up shot. A large blue ball of energy went straight for Wreck.

"Holy shit!," Wreck said. He knew he couldn't move with the beam saber in his hand, unless…

"To hell with the arm!," Wreck shouted. At the last second, he moved aside, leaving his right arm exposed. The energy destroyed the arm along with the wall. Wreck yelled in pain and fell on the floor face first.

"It's over," Zero said, approaching Wreck. "Give it up."

Wreck chuckled as he shakily stood up, grasping what was still left of his arm on his shoulder. He was bleeding quite a lot.

"M-me, give up?," he asked, smiling. Suddenly red lines began moving around his body. "I-I'll kill you first."

"What the?," Zero asked.

Wreck smiled. They were done for. Just as he was about to unleash his true power, though, he heard Marduk's voice in his mind.

_Return, Wreck_, said Marduk.

Wreck was alarmed. _No!, _he argued. _Let me finish them first_!

_You are in no state to continue fighting_, Marduk said stubbornly. _Now return. That's an order._

Wreck growled. "Yes sir," he said angrily.

"What did he say?," X asked.

"You'll all pay for this," Wreck said, then beamed out of there.

"Damn it," Zero said.

"He escaped," Axl said. Both X and Zero just stared at him.

"What?," Axl asked. Zero sighed. Suddenly Signas spoke to them.

"Did you get him?," he asked.

"Negative," Zero said. "Target has escaped."

They could actually hear Signas sigh through the headset.

"This will be another scandal," Signas said. "All right, good job. Return to base."

"Roger that," Zero said.

"Good job?," Axl asked.

"That's just a pretext," X said. "When we get to base we'll probably get chewed off for letting Wreck get away."

Suddenly they heard the hammer of a gun click back behind them. They turned in alarm, only to find a young looking female reploid aiming a gun at them. It was the reploid Zero didn't kill.

Axl was about to draw his gun when X put his arm in front of him.

"No," he said, and walked slowly towards the female reploid.

"S-stay back!," she said nervously, aiming her gun at X. She was shaking so much she looked like she was having a seizure. The poor girl was terrified.

"Drop the gun," X said, talking kindly and smiling. "You don't want to shoot me. Please, we won't hurt you." He extended his hand to her. "There's nothing to be afraid of."

"How could you?," the female reploid asked.

"What?," X asked. "Listen, I don't know what Marduk told you, but humans are not evil. Just come back, and you can go back to your old life. You don't have to be afraid."

Suddenly, the female reploid stopped shaking. Her terrified face changed to one of sympathy, and she even gave X a sad smile. She slowly lowered her gun.

"You really don't understand," she said, looking truly sad.

"What?," X asked.

"Going back," she said, taking a deep, shuddering breath. "Is what I'm afraid of."

She quickly put the gun in her mouth and closed her eyes.

"NO!," said X in alarm.

**Space Colony 0-5, base of operation for the Reploid Liberation Front, currently orbiting Earth's atmosphere under camouflage.**

It was a slightly dark room. In the middle, there was a round desk were 7 reploids were seated, discussing in hushed voices about what had happened down at Earth. An eighth reploid was standing on a catwalk above them. Wearing a dark blue and red armor with sharp shoulder pads, the tall reploid also had a silver face plate connected to his helmet that covered the lower-half of his face. It had red stains on it. His long hair reached down to his waist. He was looking out the large single window in the room, staring at the small blue planet that was Earth.

Suddenly a door opened in the room, and everyone fell in a hush as Wreck entered, his arm repaired but his attitude still sour.

"What the hell, Marduk?!," he asked angrily. "I could've gotten at least one of the runts if you had let me!"

"You were in no condition to fight," Marduk said calmly, still staring at the Earth.

"The hell I wasn't!," said Wreck, now positively shouting. "You just didn't want me there because **'he'** was there!"

"You are also in no position to argue," said Marduk dangerously, now looking at Wreck with fierce eyes. Wreck actually flinched.

Marduk jumped from the catwalk and landed in front of Wreck. Even though Wreck was definitely larger than all the reploids in the room, this didn't stop the angered reploid from regretting ever coming to face his leader.

"You went and attacked a public building without permission nor reason," Marduk said, his calm voice barely hiding his anger. "And you think you can come to me and complain?"

"I only did that because we need to be more aggressive!," Wreck said in his defense. "Why should we take any of this crap?! We're always on the defensive, and the humans know this! They listen only to violence, not peace! If it were Sigma, he'd--!"

Suddenly Marduk punched Wreck in the stomach with such force that it broke his chest armor. Then a pair of large laser claws appeared on each of Marduk's hands. He placed them close to Wreck's neck. Wreck was shuddering now, while the other reploids in the room remained deathly silent.

"Don't you ever mention Sigma again, Wreck," Marduk said threateningly. "We are not infected with any bullshit virus. Each of us chose to be here, out of our own free will, knowing the consequences."

"I know, I know!," Wreck said desperately. "I'm sorry! I lost myself!"

"You certainly did," Marduk said. He retracted his blades. "Now go to the infirmary and get yourself fixed."

Wreck stood up, and looking defeated, left the room. Marduk looked at the rest of the reploids that were sitting on the table.

"You are all dismissed," Marduk said.

They all stood up and left in single file out the door. The last one, a winged reploid with a helmet and a visor shaped like a beak that covered his eyes, stopped at the door and looked at Marduk.

"You shouldn't scare off those that chose to help you," he said.

Marduk only answered with his silence. The reploid stared for a moment longer, then, perhaps realizing he wasn't getting an answer, left.

He walked right past a pink haired female reploid. She entered the room and found Marduk staring at the Earth again.

"Perhaps I was too harsh on him," Marduk said with a hint of regret.

"You only did what a leader is supposed to do," said the female reploid. "At least now the others will know not to go off and make decisions on their own."

Marduk took off his face-plate and smiled at the reploid.

"Thank you, Lina," he said. He looked back at the Earth.

"It's strange," he said. "The Earth is in so much turmoil, and yet from here, it seems so peaceful."

**Back in Earth**

Axl was talking with other reploids as the clean up continued. They were still at the battle site, outside the now ruined building. X and Zero were sitting on some rubble. Zero observed the clean up while X had a blank stare.

Zero looked at his friend and sighed.

"It's not your fault," Zero said, knowing what was coming.

"I could have stopped her," X said finally.

"No, you couldn't have," Zero said.

"I could have done something," X said. "I still have it fresh in my memory. It just keeps repeating itself."

He grabbed his head and began to breathe heavily. Zero noticed this and scowled.

"Why did she do it?," X asked, his voice shaky.

"Don't you dare," Zero said.

"What?," asked X, looking at Zero.

"Don't you dare cry," Zero said seriously. "If you're going to cry, cry for the reploids that died doing their duty today." He stood up. "But don't you dare cry for the enemy."

He turned and started walking towards Axl. X stood up and followed him, trying hard to listen to Zero, and not cry for the girl.


	3. Zero Virus

**CHAPTER 2**

**Zero-virus**

Axl ran inside a ruined city with his guns drawn out. An enemy reploid appeared from inside one of the buildings and fired at him. Axl dodged the shots and fired back, taking down the reploid. He got beside the entrance of the building and spoke into his headset.

"I'm right next to the target, over," he said.

"Good," he heard Zero reply. "Wait for me and X."

"No way," Axl said cockily. "I can take him on my own."

"Don't do it, Axl!," X said.

"I'm going in!," Axl said, and ran inside the building, guns forward.

The room was empty.

"What the?," asked Axl perplexed.

Suddenly the roof came crashing down on Axl's head, and the reploid dashed to avoid the falling rubble. He looked back and saw Wreck standing in front of him.

"Damn!," Axl said as he aimed his guns. Suddenly a disc cut through from the other room and chopped off Axl's arms. He yelled out in pain. Then a large dark sphere shot out from under Axl's feet, and for a moment it seemed to Axl that he was done for.

"COMBAT SIMULATOR DEACTIVATED," said a computerized voice.

The city vanished, turning into a large, empty metal room. Wreck and his weapons also vanished, along with Axl's wounds, which were never there.

X and Zero walked towards him as he stood up.

"You're too reckless," Zero said.

"Sorry," Axl said.

"You have to be more careful," X said worriedly. "Next time it might not be a simulator."

"I know," Axl said annoyed.

"That's the problem," Zero said. "You don't know."

"What?," Axl asked.

Before Zero could speak, the door to the simulator room opened, and Commander Signas entered.

"Good afternoon, Commander," X said.

"Good afternoon, X," greeted Signas. "Zero, Axl."

"Is something the matter?," Zero asked.

"Sort of," said Signas. "Come with me."

They left the simulator room and walked down the hallway. Various hunters greeted them as they passed.

"The siege on the corporate skyscraper the other day was a fiasco," Signas said. "The media's been having a field day with it."

"What?," Axl asked shocked. "But we were helping them!"

"Unfortunately, there are a number of people who think otherwise," Signas said, not turning to face him. "It seems that they thought that the collateral damage caused was over excessive, especially since we were unable to apprehend the boss."

"Those ingrates!," Axl said. "How can they be chewing us off when we're the ones taking the hits?!"

Zero noticed how silent and serious X was, especially when Axl said that. Perhaps it was time to change the subject.

"So," Zero said. "Any reason for calling us?"

"As a matter of fact, there is," Signas said. "I need you to go on a rescue mission."

"A rescue mission?," X asked.

Inside the briefing room, a large room with a central hologram projector, there were already various reploids inside when the four of them entered.

"Alia," Signas said.

"Yes sir," said Alia, who was in the control platform. She pressed a few buttons, and a large 3-D holographic map was projected in the middle of the room.

"This is the map of an abandoned mine some sixty miles west of here," Alia said. "At 2300 hours yesterday we sent in a small unit under the command of hunter Ina."

"Why?," asked X.

"We had found some evidence of R.L.F. activity in the area, so we sent in a team to investigate," Signas said.

Alia continued. "We lost contact with the unit at 2330 hours, so we sent in Quickdraw's squad at 2345. This is our last transmission with that unit."

Suddenly there was a sound of gunfire all around the room. Someone was speaking into a radio, and he sounded desperate.

_"This is Quickdraw's squadron!," _shouted the desperate soldier. "_We are surrounded and request immediate reinforcements! R.L.F. forces confirmed! Target confirmed! But there's someone else here!" _

Suddenly they heard another voice shout out in surprise. _"What the hell?! They're up there!"_ Then static.

"This was fifteen minutes ago," Alia said.

"Any chance of survivors?," Zero asked.

"It's possible that Ina's squad is still alive and is held up here," Signas said, pointing at a northwestern point of the map. It was a rather small chamber.

"And Quickdraw?," X asked.

Signas simply shook his head.

"I see," X said.

"Your mission is to hook up with hunter Ina and what's left of her squad and complete her mission," Signas said.

"What?," Axl asked.

"If you fail, the entire mining area will come under orbital bombardment," Signas said, now not meeting either of their eyes. There was excited murmuring all around the room. Alia looked worried, but was silent.

"Orbital bombardment?!," X asked alarmed. "But there are still people down there!"

Signas sighed heavily. Zero noticed how tired he looked.

"I know, X," Signas said. "But unfortunately, we were unable to keep this situation under wraps. The government has already given Repleforce specific instructions to destroy the entire area if we fail or show signs of failing."

"But why?," X asked.

"The idiots up top don't want another public nightmare," Signas said sourly. It was clear he didn't like the situation any better than X. "We've failed so many times already that there is talk of spies within both Maverick Hunter HQ and Repleforce. It seems that they think the only way they can show the people that there is still strength on our side is to eliminate all resistance, at any cost."

"So we're being used as a political tool now?," Zero asked.

"I'd say more like a deterrent," Signas said, now facing Zero. "Besides, it's not in our place to disobey orders."

Zero glared at Signas.

"You have your orders," Signas said. "Good luck."

He turned and was about to leave the briefing room when X stopped him saying,

"Commander, I request you send only the three of us."

Signas stopped, not turning around.

"If there is a chance that we may not escape the mines," X said. "Then I don't think that anyone else should die with us."

"X," Zero said. X continued looking at Signas' back, his face determined.

"Very well," Signas said, and left the briefing room.

"So," Axl said, trying to smile and look unworried. "Just the three of us, huh?"

He realized that the others were ignoring him. X was looking at the floor, deep in thought, while Zero stared at him, his face quite fathomless.

"Everyone's so serious here, sheesh," Axl said.

**The mines, last and largest chamber…**

Wreck was sitting on a rock while listening to a report that a reploid was giving him. When he finished, Wreck dismissed him, and smiled at another reploid that was standing with his back against the wall nearby.

"Well, Strikewind, it looks like they're coming after all," he said.

The winged reploid didn't make any sign at all of having listened, but Wreck knew better.

"You know," Wreck said. "I'm still rather surprised that you agreed to this. Marduk must be pissed right now."

Still no answer.

"That scary bitch probably already told him about our move," Wreck continued. He looked up at the rocky ceiling. "100 reploids deployed in this lone mine. Ain't something they're going to miss."

"Are you afraid?," asked Strikewind suddenly.

Wreck blinked. The man hadn't talked for two hours, and his first words are these?

"Me, afraid?," Wreck asked, looking at Strikewind as though he should know better. "More like eager."

He raised his repaired right arm and clenched his fist.

"That little blue bastard," he said, now positively shaking with excitement. "Is going to pay for what he did to my arm."

**Back at the colony**

"We've received the report," Lina said.

"And?," Marduk asked.

"As expected, Wreck has mobilized forces without permission and is currently held up in the mines."

"I see," Marduk said.

They were in the council room, and Marduk was once again staring at the Earth from the catwalk.

"I suppose this means we'll know for certain," Marduk said. "How goes the virus assimilation?"

"Virus assimilation 75 complete," Lina said. "It's been putting up a strong fight."

"As well as it should," Maduk said calmly. He looked down at Lina and realized the funny expression on her face.

"Is something the matter?," he asked.

"No," Lina said, then sighed. "Yes. I don't believe that we're taking the right course of action."

"This is the only way we can make certain that our plans will go smoothly," Marduk said.

"I know," Lina said. "But at the cost of so many lives?"

"Can you think of a better way?," Marduk asked. Lina remained quiet.

"We have already tested X and confirmed our suspicions," Marduk said, looking back at the Earth. "It's Zero's turn."

Lina remained silent.

"Anything else?," Marduk asked.

"No," Lina said, bowing slightly. "If you'll excuse me."

She turned to leave.

"Lina, haven't there been any signs of Father yet?," Marduk asked suddenly.

Lina stopped. "No," she said. "He's very well hidden, as to be expected."

"I see," Marduk said. "That is all."

Lina bowed once again and left the room. Marduk now shifted his gaze towards an old and enlarged photograph on the other side of the room. It was rather old and not well taken care of, so the two people posing for the picture were barely visible. To the right of the photo stood Marduk, his arms crossed and a happy smile on his face. Standing to his left was the figure of an old man in a white lab coat. His face was the most faded, but Marduk didn't need to see the face to know who it was.

"Father," he said.

**The mines**

Three differently colored beams shot down from the roof. When they hit the floor, X, Zero and Axl materialized.

"This is the closest we could get you," Alia said. "You have to find your way on your own now."

"Understood," Zero said.

"Be careful, you three," Alia said.

"We'll be fine," Axl said confidently.

X remained silent.

"All right then," Alia said. "We might end up losing communications soon, so, good luck."

"Thank you," X said finally.

The three them started on their search.

The first thing X realized as they traversed the mines was the lack of any serious resistance from the R.L.F. The worst they had encountered were the roof-mounted turrets.

"How strange," Zero said as they continued running towards their destination.

"Yeah," Axl said. "I'd have thought we'd find something by now."

They came upon what looked like a dead end. They looked up and realized that it was actually a shaft that led to an upper floor.

"I guess we triangle jump," Zero said.

"Hey, this is actually the first time you try the triangle jump, right?," X said, talking to Axl.

"Well, yeah," Axl said. "But I can handle it."

"Let's go," Zero said, and led them by jumping first.

They triangle jumped from wall to wall for a faster ascent. As they did, Axl felt like maybe he should bring up some subject to speed up the trip.

"So," Axl said. "Can anyone tell me why they'd make a shaft go this high up?"

"Must have been for security reasons," X said. "I'm sure there must have been an elevator once."

"Okay," Axl said. "You know, sometimes I wonder, who builds those complicated bases we go to sometimes?"

"Those are automated defenses," Zero said as he continued climbing. "Most of those bases are like any other; simple and without any complicated paths. However, when in danger, many of them have a "maze" program. The entire base transforms to counter enemy invasions."

"Wow," Axl said.

"Look out!," Zero said suddenly.

Axl looked up and gasped. A "wall-crawler", a small machine that went up and down in walls with a titanium saw, was coming down at him at high speed. He went for his gun, but before he reached it, the crawler exploded, destroyed by X.

"Don't stop!," X shouted to Axl.

The three of them sped up their ascent, destroying the crawlers that threatened them the

most."Just how high is this?!," Axl asked as he shot down another crawler.

"I see the ledge!," Zero said. He drew out his saber and with an upward swing destroyed the last crawler.

They finally made it to the next floor.

"Let's go," Zero said. "Quickdraw's squad should be in the next room."

He took one step forward and felt a sudden surge of pain in his head. He fell on one knee. Then a disturbing vision came to mind; he was standing in the middle of a room, surrounded by dead reploids. Then, as quickly as the vision came, it vanished.

"Zero!," X said alarmed. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Zero said quickly, refusing X's hand and getting up on his own.

"What happened?," Axl asked.

"I don't know," Zero said.

"Can you go on?," X asked.

"I can," Zero said. "Now let's go. We don't have a lot of time."

They entered the next room carefully, weapons drawn, looking around them.

"Quickdraw?," asked Zero out loud.

"It's so dark," Axl said. He found a switch on the wall and pulled it. Suddenly the entire room lit up, and Axl found himself wishing it was still dark.

"Oh my god," X said horrified.

The room was littered with dead reploids, both Maverick Hunters and R.L.F. The room was colored red with their blood oil. It was clear that a very terrible battle had occurred here, and that Quickdraw's entire squad was effectively dead.

"Alia, do you read?," Zero asked, talking through his headset.

"Roger that, Zero," Alia said. "What's your status?"

"We're all right," Zero said. "But Quickdraw's squad has been annihilated. No sign of Quickdraw yet."

"Hey guys," Axl said, looking at something behind a rock. "I just found Quickdraw."

They walked beside him and looked. X grimaced. Quickdraw's entire body had been destroyed, his legs and arms and even a part of his face missing.

"Zero?," Alia asked.

"We just found Quickdraw," Zero said. "He's dead."

"No," Alia said horrified.

"We're going to continue our mission," Zero said. "Zero out."

"Look, one of them is still alive!," Axl said, pointing at a hunter. Halve his torso and his right arm were missing.

They ran to his side. X kneeled and lifted the reploid's head.

"What happened here?," Zero asked.

The reploid swallowed hard. "W-we were ambushed," he said weakly. "We tried our hardest, but their bosses were too strong."

"Bosses?," X asked.

"There was another one with Wreck," said the reploid. "I-I think he w-was called S-Strikewind..."

X looked up at Zero with a worried expression, and Zero nodded. Whatever was happening down here, it was serious if there were two bosses.

"A-am I going to die?," asked the reploid soldier. This question took the others by surprise. Zero was the only one to answer.

"We can't help you. I'm sorry."

"Zero!," X said.

"We have a mission, X," Zero said.

"But--," X said. The dying reploid interrupted.

"I-it's all right," he said. "Just promise me t-that you'll get that bastard."

"I will," Zero said. "I promise."

The reploid smiled. Then his eyes lost color, and the last of his power reserves were spent.

"He kept himself alive just to warn us of another boss," Axl said.

"We won't let his death be in vain," Zero said.

X rested the dead reploid's head gently on the floor and continued staring.

"It's doubtful now whether Ina's squad is alive," Axl said. Just then, the sound of an incoming missile was heard. Zero looked up and gasped.

"Watch out!," he said. The three of them jumped out of the way of the incoming projectile. The explosion rocked the entire chamber.

"What the hell?!," Zero asked.

Suddenly a shadowy figure fell from the ceiling and attacked Axl with a beam saber. Axl dodged desperately as the person attacked his weak spots. Eventually he lost his footing. He saw the beam saber go down.

"Stop!," shouted X. The beam saber stopped an inch from Axl's face. Axl looked up at his attacker and gasped. He was looking at a human woman who didn't seem older than 23. She wore little armor, just a chest armor and a single shoulder pad. Under it she had a white tank top. She also wore the reploid leg armor, under which she wore green camo pants. She had long black hair. She also had a disturbingly large cannon strapped to her back, almost too big for her to be carrying. She was glaring at X, who was aiming at her with his buster.

"Lieutenant Ina?," X asked, not taking his eyes off her.

"You're X," she said. She looked at Axl. "I see now."

She withdrew her beam saber and put it away. Axl let go a deep sigh of relief.

"So you're my backup, huh?," she asked. She didn't look very happy.

"We came to support you and your squad," Zero said.

"Where is your squad?," X asked.

Ina pulled out a lone cigarette from her pocket and lit it with a lighter.

"You came in through the last room, didn't you?," she asked, blowing out a ring of

smoke. "It was a terrible ambush. Worse, we were attacked from the air too, by a Maverick boss called Strikewind. Everyone was slaughtered."

"Except you," Zero said. "Isn't that convenient?"

Ina suddenly looked at him with furious eyes.

"What the hell was that supposed to mean?," she asked furiously.

Zero remained silent, something that infuriated her even more.

"Don't think that I'm going to take any crap from a talking calculator," she said, walking towards Zero and stopping right in front of him.

"If you've got something to say, say it now," she said.

"I have nothing to say to you," Zero said.

For some reason, this angered Ina a lot more. She reached for her saber.

"That's enough!," X said. "We don't have time for any of this right now! We have to find Wreck before Repleforce destroys the entire mine and us!"

Ina was still glaring at Zero, her hand already on her saber. Finally, she let go.

She looked at X wearily. "So, they're planning to destroy the mines." She tossed away the cigarette. "Should have known."

"We have to find Wreck," X said.

"He's nearby," Ina said. "I think he's been waiting for you guys."

She walked towards the next entrance, walking right past Axl, who took a step away from her. "It's through here," she said, and went in.

"Scary," Axl said.

"Let's go," Zero said, and followed Ina along with the others.

The next room was a very large chamber, and as soon as Axl entered, the door behind him slammed shut.

"Looks like we're here," Zero said.

"Hello there," said a familiar voice.

Wreck jumped from a high ledge and landed in front of them.

"It's been a while," he said, smiling wickedly.

Strikewind slowly floated down and landed beside Wreck.

"You can take on the others if you want," Wreck said. "But the blue one's mine."

"Very well," Strikewind said.

Wreck raised his hands, and various small dark spheres materialized above him.

"Come on, X!," Wreck said. "Let's dance!"

Strikewind suddenly dashed towards Zero, his feet not touching the ground. Zero moved aside to avoid being rammed by Strikewind and fired. Strikewind spread his wings and flew up, avoiding the shot.

"Damn!," Zero said.

Axl began firing at Strikewind. Strikewind dodged each shot with ease as he returned fire at both Zero and Axl.

"This won't do at all," Axl said. Suddenly his guns vanished and were replaced by a gatling gun. He fired, now shooting a lot more lead than before. Strikewind was quite impressed.

"I shouldn't have underestimated this one," he said. He flew above Axl. His wings suddenly opened and dropped various small missiles at him.

"Holy crap!," Axl said. He dashed all around the chamber, dodging the incoming missiles. Meanwhile, Zero and Strikewind were once again locked in combat, this time each one attacking each other with beam sabers.

"How ironic," Strikewind said as he and Zero were caught in a deadlock.

"What?," Zero asked.

"To think that you'd help your own enemy," Strikewind said.

"What the hell are you talking about?!," Zero asked as he pushed Strikewind back. Strikewind did a back flip and landed a good distance from Zero.

"If you wish to know, beat me," Strikewind said. Zero charged.

X and Wreck had been fighting a stalemate while this was all happening. Wreck sent the small spheres after X, who had already charged his Buster shot and fired. The spheres exploded, and X actually fell back. Wreck appeared from the smoke, his massive fist raised.

"You're mine!," Wreck said victoriously.

X rolled out of the way as Wreck punched down on the floor, leaving a large hole when he raised his fist.

"You can't run from me!," Wreck said. Red lines started appearing on his body. "Not this time!"

"What is that?," X asked.

Wreck suddenly charged with increased speed. X barely dodged his next punch when he realized too late that Wreck had materialized another disc. This one grazed him, cutting into his arm. X yelled in pain. Wreck grabbed him with his other hand and lifted him up high, then slammed him against the ground. Wreck laughed.

"This is the reploid with limitless potential?!," he asked. "What a joke!"

Suddenly he was hit by various bullets. He noticed Axl dashing towards him, guns blazing.

"Don't forget I'm still alive!," Axl shouted.

Wreck smiled and charged, jumping high into the air. Axl was unable to move on time, and was smashed into the ground by Wreck's open hand. When he lifted his hand, Axl was unconscious.

"Axl! X!," Zero said worriedly.

"Don't forget your fight is with me," Strikewind said. Zero growled.

"Zero, move!," Ina suddenly yelled from behind.

Zero looked back then dashed aside, and Strikewind was hit by a missile. The explosion sent Strikewind sliding back.

"Ina!," Zero said.

"Go!," Ina said. She was holding her smoking missile launcher on her shoulder, aiming at Strikewind. "Get rid of Wreck! I'll take care of fly boy over here!"

"Thanks!," Zero said, and dashed for Wreck.

Strikewind quickly got up and into the air. He flew after Zero, but Ina aimed her launcher at Strikewind and said "Scatter shot!" The launcher responded by firing another missile. Strikewind dodged it easily. But the missile split in two above him, revealing a small ball with hundreds of small black spheres.

"What the hell?!," Strikewind asked. Suddenly the black spheres spread at extremely high speeds. Strikewind was unable to dodge any of them, and soon crashed on the floor.

"You're not going anywhere," Ina said.

Strikewind stood up. His wings were destroyed, his armor cracked to hell and his visor gone, revealing glaring blue eyes.

"Meddling human," he said, drawing out a beam saber. He dashed towards her. Ina aimed her launcher at him.

Ina fired, but Strikewind dodged each shot with ease and got within striking distance of her.

"It's over," he said as he raised his beam saber and let down on her.

Ina raised her right hand and caught his arm.

"What?," Strikewind said as he tried to in vain to bring the sword down. Ina smiled.

"Not what you expected?," Ina asked. Her right arm started to glow.

"I don't believe it," Strikewind said.

"That's not all this arm can do," she said. Suddenly her veins became visible and pulsating. She tightened her grip on Strikewind's arm and tossed him against the wall. Strikewind hit the wall very hard and fell sitting down. Ina threw her launcher aside and drew out her saber. Strikewind got up on one knee and looked up at Ina.

"Truly, what a meddling human," he said. Ina charged.

Wreck held X in his hands again. He was smiling, completely oblivious to everything around him.

"Die, you little bastard," Wreck said as he began crushing X's body.

"Let him go!," Zero shouted from behind him. Wreck turned and indeed let go, trying to dodge Zero's saber. The saber just grazed his armor.

"X, are you all right?," Zero asked.

"I-I'll be fine," X said.

Red lines once again appeared on Wreck's body.

"Fine then!," Wreck said. "I'll finish you off as well! All the better!"

Zero charged, swinging his saber expertly at Wreck. Wreck dodged and countered, swinging his massive fists at Zero in response to the saber. They continued like this for a while, until Zero finally got above Wreck and swung his saber down. Then Wreck blocked the saber with his right arm.

"What?!," said Zero in shock. Wreck smiled.

"What's wrong? You look surprised!," he asked. With the same hand he used to block Zero's saber he grabbed Zero's arm, and with the other the rest of his body.

"You know, I was thinking of tearing out X's limbs off, but I think you'll do just fine," Wreck said, the red lines shining brighter. "Yes, you'll do!"

He took Zero's right arm and began to pull. Zero groaned under the strain.

"Zero!," X said horrified. He heard another scream and looked around to find Ina lying on the ground in front of Strikewind, apparently unconscious.

There was a loud ripping sound that caught X's attention. He gasped in horror as he watched Wreck throw away Zero's bleeding arm while still holding Zero himself. Zero was screaming now.

"Zero!," X said. He aimed his buster at Wreck. "Let him go!," he shouted at Wreck.

He charged the Buster to full power.

"Or what?!," Wreck asked. "Are you going to shoot me?!"

X didn't answer.

"You can't, can you?," Wreck asked. "Because you worry about this guy! What a pitiful weakness!"

"You're the only pitiful one here," said Zero coldly.

"What?," Wreck asked, looking at Zero.

Zero was looking at him with cold eyes, and a purple aura was exuding from him.

"What the hell?," Wreck asked, then gasped in horror as he realized that there was a W shining brightly on Zero's forehead.

"It can't be!," he said alarmed.

Zero let go an angered yell and punched Wreck hard on the face. Wreck was sent flying across the chamber and crashed against the wall on the other end. Wreck stood up shakily only to find Zero dash towards him, his left fist drawn all the way back.

"Shit!," Wreck said. He materialized a disc and placed it front of him like a shield.

Zero punched through the disc without slowing down and hit Wreck in the chest at the same time. The impact rocked the entire chamber, and Wreck was lying against the wall, barely able to move. He looked up with a mighty effort and saw Zero stand in front of him, still glowing in that purple aura, still looking at him with cold eyes. Wreck looked around and found Strikewind looking at them.

"D-don't just stand there," Wreck said. "H-help me!"

"My mission is over," Strikewind said coldly. "What happens to you now is none of my concern."

"W-what?!," Wreck asked, then gasped in horrible realization. His expression changed to one of pure fury. "You bastard! Marduk set me up for this?!"

"Did you honestly believe that I would follow such a ridiculous plan as yours without good reason?," Windstrike asked.

"A-all those lives," Wreck said. "You sacrificed my men, you son of a bitch!"

"They're better off dying with you," Strikewind said. He smirked. "You should be proud. Your sacrifice and that of your men will allow the R.L.F. to progress in their objective."

"Go to hell!," Wreck said furiously.

Strikewind just smiled and turned his back on Wreck. He was beamed out of the chamber. Wreck looked up at Zero again. He laughed.

"S-so this is t-the Zero virus," he said weakly. "M-Marduk, w-what the hell are you planning?"

Zero raised his fist and smashed it through Wreck's face, then fell unconscious.

"Zero!," X said. He slowly began to lose consciousness. "Zero…"

He fell down and didn't get up.

**Back at the colony…**

"He's back," Lina said.

"Let him in," Marduk ordered.

The door to the conference chamber opened, and Strikewind stepped inside.

"Well?," Marduk asked, still staring at the Earth.

"It's just as we expected," Strikewind said. "He still can't control it."

"It's all right," Marduk said. "There is still some time before that. At least now things will go smoothly. The good professor has even finished building a body for our guest."

"You mean he was here?," Strikewind asked.

"He left an hour earlier," Marduk said.

"I don't like this," Strikewind said, folding his arms and looking slightly disgusted. "Having to side with people who don't care for our cause."

"It is still necessary, though," Marduk said, not taking his eyes off the blue planet. "It is with the help of people like him that we can further our progress. How are our agents doing?"

"They have successfully infiltrated both Maverick Hunter HQ and Repleforce. They await your orders," reported Lina.

"So it's almost time then," Strikewind said.

Marduk nodded. "Tell them to proceed to stage 2. The time is almost at hand."

Lina bowed and left. Strikewind remained and looked up at Marduk, who was still staring at the Earth.

"It looks so peaceful," Marduk said. "And yet, it is in so much turmoil."

**Maverick Hunter HQ, Infirmary**

X slowly opened his eyes, and found Axl and Zero looking down at him.

"Hey," X said in greeting.

"All right!," Axl said happily, and even Zero smiled.

"What happened?," X asked.

"We were recovered by another team that was sent in after us," Zero said. "Wreck is dead."

"I know," X said. "You got rid of him."

Zero remained silent.

"Wait till I tell Ina you're all right!," Axl said excitedly. "She seemed pretty worried! Speaking of which, where is she?"

Axl went out to the hall to see if he could see her, but she wasn't anywhere around.

"That's weird," Axl said, walking back towards X. "She was here until a while ago." He noticed the deathly silence between Zero and X.

"What happened?," Axl asked.

Zero shook his head. "It's nothing," he said as he stood up.

"Make sure to get some rest, X," Zero said. He made it to the entrance before X said

"Thank you for saving me back there, Zero."

"No problem," Zero said as he left. The door closed behind him.

"What's his deal?," Axl asked. X didn't answer.

As Zero walked past the greeting reploids, many thoughts began crossing through his mind, the most nagging one being; why can't he remember? The last thing he remembered from the mines was waking up in front of Wreck, whose face was gone. He had soon after made a distress call, which got them out of the mines. There were also two words that seemed to pop up in his mind, two words that he was sure Wreck had spoken: _Zero-virus._


	4. Breaking The Cycle

**CHAPTER 3**

**Breaking The Cycle**

The Reploid mess hall. It's hard to think that machines might require something like a mess hall, but they're intelligence seemed to demand that they recharge in a more 'civilized' manner. There were various tables lined up in rows, with the reploids sitting together, talking, socializing, drinking energy drinks or energy bars, which literally gave their power supplies a much needed boost.

Axl grabbed his tray from the line and sat on the same table as Zero and X. X was sitting in front of Zero, and seemed quite happy.

"Hey guys," Axl said. Zero nodded in greeting.

"It's good to finally have a day off, huh?," Axl said happily.

"Yeah," X said. "Commander Signas said that the mine operation actually helped our image a bit. And since there haven't been any attacks from the R.L.F. recently, the Commander thought it would be best to give everyone a break."

"It is strange though," Zero said after taking a sip of his drink. "Ever since Wreck was destroyed, the R.L.F. have become very passive."

"Maybe we scared them," Axl said.

"I'm not so sure," Zero said thoughtfully.

There was a sudden hush in the mess hall. The trio looked around to see what was going on and realized that Ina was walking towards them. She stopped beside their table. After what seemed like a moment of hesitation, she sat beside X and began eating her spaghetti and meatballs in silence.

"Isn't that Ina?," asked one reploid in a hushed voice.

"You mean the reploid hater?," asked another.

"What is she doing here? She never comes to eat here."

"She's sitting with X. Maybe something happened back at the mission?"

"What? No way."

"I heard that she single-handedly destroyed 100 of the R.L.F.'s soldiers."

"What?!," asked another in a hushed voice. "A human?! No way!"

"Seriously. It was all over the news! I also heard that some of them tried to surrender, but she killed them anyway!"

The entire hall was suddenly caught in excited murmuring. Ina let her fork down and slammed her right fist against the table. It left a pretty deep dent. The entire hall was silent.

"Next reploid to look at me funny gets a missile up their ass," Ina said.

This took their attention elsewhere.

"Popular, aren't you?," Axl asked as Ina resumed eating.

"Shut up," she said.

"That arm isn't really yours, is it?," Zero asked, staring at Ina's right arm.

"So, what of it?," Ina asked.

"I've heard that you truly despise reploids," Zero said. "I was just wondering if that arm had anything to do with it."

Ina looked at Zero squarely in the eyes.

"What are you, Sherlock Holmes?," she asked.

"I'm pretty good at deducting, if that's what you mean," Zero said. Ina chuckled.

"It's not just the arm," Ina said, clenching her right fist.

"There's something else?," X asked.

"I'd rather not talk about it," Ina said as she stood up.

"Does it have to do with Marduk?," Zero asked. Ina suddenly glared at him.

"Who told you that?," Ina asked.

"You just did," Zero said. Ina growled, and left, throwing the tray at another reploid's face.

"What's the matter with you, Zero?," X asked. "You didn't have to go and scare her off like that."

Zero simply shrugged and resumed eating.

Ina was standing outside the mess hall, her back against the wall. She was staring at her right arm; her inhuman arm.

"Eating with reploids," she said, making an expression of disgust. "What the hell was I thinking?" But it seemed like a good idea at the moment, although why exactly was a mystery to her.

"Damn that Zero," Ina said as she left.

**Colony 0-5, Council Room**

Lina entered the council room to find Marduk once again staring at the Earth.

"Do you really want it that much?," Lina asked.

"I only wish it were really that peaceful," Marduk said.

"The virus assimilation has been completed," Lina said. "He has already taken over the body."

"And the anti-virus?," Marduk asked.

"Placed on the walls as you ordered," Lina said. "I still don't think you should do it. Let me take care of him."

"No," Marduk said. "This is my duty."

"As you wish," Lina said, bowing slightly. She left the room.

"I guess I should go too," Marduk said. He sighed and jumped down from the catwalk. "I suppose it will be interesting."

Marduk arrived at the entrance of a large room. The hatch was currently closed. Lina was standing beside him, along with two other reploids that were bodyguards.

"Please," Lina said worriedly.

"Don't worry about me," Marduk said with a kind smile. "I'll be fine."

He turned to the door.

"Open the hatch!," he ordered. The hatch slowly opened in front of him. He entered the room, latched his silver faceplate on his face, and gave Lina a thumbs-up as the hatch closed behind him.

"Let's go," Lina said, and she and the reploid bodyguards moved to the next room farther ahead.

Lina entered a control room, which was a rather small room with consoles on either side. Female navigators were making quick adjustments and preparations.

"Well?," Lina asked.

"All preparations are complete," said one navigator.

"Virus shields up, anti-virus injected on the surrounding atmosphere," said another. "Gaining video feed now."

Suddenly a large screen lit up in front of them, showing Marduk standing in front of a large, bald reploid.

"Be careful," Lina said.

Marduk calmly observed the motionless reploid standing in front of him.

"I know you're awake, Sigma," Marduk said.

The reploid's eyes soon glowed red, and it stood up, measuring easily twelve feet high. Sigma looked at his new body, opening and closing his hands, and grinned.

"Finally, a new body," Sigma said.

"Yes," Marduk said. "A very well known scientist built you that body."

"How kind," Sigma said. "Now I can finally destroy X."

Marduk chuckled.

"What's so funny?," asked Sigma.

"I'm afraid I cannot allow you to destroy X," Marduk said.

"What?," Sigma asked.

"You don't seem to realize what's going on, so I'll explain it to you," Marduk said. "As you well know, X has limitless potential, thanks mainly to the fact that he can copy the abilities of others. He also has the power to learn and evolve."

"However, that potential has been constantly halted by the likes of you, and father. Between you two, X is caught in a constant cycle of repetition, unable to move on due to the haunting of the past. Which is why I plan to destroy you."

Sigma chuckled. "You think you can kill me?," he asked.

"This room has been sealed away by an anti-Sigma virus," Marduk said, summoning his claws. "As well as my blades. You have no chance of escape."

"We'll see about that!," Sigma said, and drew out a beam saber. He charged, and soon Marduk and Sigma were locked in fierce fighting. Sigma slashed down on Marduk, who dodged with a sidestep. He attacked by swinging his claws at Sigma in quick successive combos, but Sigma was able to dodge each one. They both then swung their weapons at the same time and were caught in a deadlock.

"So tell me, Marduk," Sigma said as he struggled to keep the deadlock. "If you wanted to destroy me so badly, why give me a new body?!"

"I simply thought I should give you a fighting chance," Marduk said. They both separated from the deadlock.

"This has been very entertaining," Marduk said. "But it's time I ended this fight."

Sigma growled and charged again. Marduk jumped into the air and shot forward like a torpedo, spinning quickly with his claws up front, moving so fast that Sigma was unable to dodge him. Marduk drilled right through Sigma's body, landing on one knee and sliding all the way to the other end of the room.

"It's over," Marduk said.

Sigma chuckled. "You think so, do you?," he asked.

"What?," Marduk asked.

"Sigma virus strengthening!," said one panicked navigator in the control room.

"What?!," Lina asked.

"We can't contain it!," said another navigator.

"No! Marduk!," Lina said worriedly.

Sigma's body soon fell down lifeless as a black mass exited through it's back. It took the shape of a large humanoid creature with gleaming red eyes.

"So, this is the true form of the Sigma virus," Marduk said calmly.

"That is correct!," Sigma said as his hands began to glow. "Now die!"

He launched both fists at Marduk, who didn't even move. There was an explosion that rocked the colony.

"We've lost video feed!," said a navigator.

"I see that!," Lina said. "Activate the secondary cameras! Try to find Marduk's life signs! Prepare the Gamma waves!"

"The Gamma waves, ma'am?," asked another navigator, this one shocked.

The Gamma waves were highly radioactive waves that could destroy most electronics in an instant; it would definitely destroy Sigma, but it could also kill Marduk.

"I know it's bad," Lina said. "But it'll be worse if Sigma gets loose in this state."

"Ma'am," said another navigator.

"What is it?," asked Lina. The navigator pointed a shaky finger at the screen. Lina looked and gasped.

Marduk was still alive; in fact, the only thing gone was his faceplate. He had both of Sigma's large arms under his, but what really surprised them was the blue aura that surrounded him.

"My god," Lina said.

"W-what is this?!," Sigma asked in horror as he tried to get lose. "What kind of power is this?!"

Marduk looked up at Sigma, and Sigma gasped. Marduk's forhead was shining with two letters, one on top of the other; L and W.

"I-it can't be!," Sigma said in horror. "W-what the hell are you?!"

"You could say I'm an, irony," Marduk said with a grin. His shoulders opened up, revealing a pair of small laser cannons on each one. "My purpose was so mixed up I changed it. It's one of those strange gifts that you and X also possess."

"What?!," Sigma asked.

"Goodbye, Sigma," said Marduk. He fired two large beams of energy at a screaming Sigma. Again there was another explosion, and once again they lost video feed.

"What happened?!," Lina asked.

"Sigma's termination confirmed!," said a navigator. "We can't tell whether Master Marduk's alive!"

"Open the hatch!," Lina said as she quickly left the control room. She entered the containment room before the hatch had opened completely. The smoke was blinding.

"Master Marduk!," Lina called, quickly filling with panic. "Marduk!"

"Calm down, Lina," she heard Marduk say. "I'm all right."

The smoke cleared, and Lina was relieved to see Marduk, standing tall and proud in front of the slag that was now Sigma. She picked up the cracked silver faceplate.

"I'll have it mended," she said.

"No, it's okay, leave it like that," said Marduk.

"But…," Lina was about ask why when Strikewind entered the room, interrupting her.

"We found him," he said simply.

"Good," Marduk said. He walked towards Lina and took the faceplate from her.

"Would you like to come with me on a trip?," he asked her with a calm smile. Lina blinked.

**An uncharted desert in the northern hemisphere…**

"How did this happen?," asked Lina as she waited outside beside a ship.

"Must have been after the colony crashed all those decades ago," Strikewind said. "Messed up the Earth's entire climate."

Marduk was standing in front of a latch that was once hidden in the sand. He reached down and pulled, revealing a ladder that went deep underground.

"No," Marduk said when Lina approached. "I want to go in alone." He jumped inside, leaving Lina and Strikewind with puzzled expressions.

It was quite a long drop, and when Marduk landed he cracked the floor. He stood up and opened the door in front of him.

Inside this room was a large and impressive assembly line, full of various kinds of armor. Many mechanical limbs worked tirelessly on new ones, while on the wall the screens showed untold numbers of calculations and progress reports. In the middle of this vast laboratory was a single large, cylindrical machine that shined with many kinds of lights and circuits.

"It's been a long time, father," Marduk said.

It was as if he had given the command to stop. The entire lab just froze at the sound of his voice. Then the voice of a person whom Marduk cared for very much was heard.

"_Marduk_?," he asked.

The sound of his voice swelled Marduk with emotion, and brought him back happy memories of a time when he knew nothing, when this same voice lectured him, and formed the basis of his beliefs.

"Father," Marduk said tearfully. "Dr. Light."

Suddenly a holographic projection took shape in front of Marduk. The shape of an old scientist with a large white beard and a warm expression.

"_Marduk, it is you._," he said.

"It's been a long time, professor," Marduk said.

"_Why did you come_?," Dr. Light asked.

"I wanted to see you again," Marduk said. "I also wanted to tell you that everything you've hoped for is finally happening."

"_What do you mean_?," Light asked.

"Sigma is dead," Marduk said. "X has learned so much, and he's become such good friends with Zero. The time has finally come for X to embrace his full potential."

"_Marduk, even though X has had time to stabilize, he still isn't ready to go that far,_" Dr. Light said gravely. "_You don't know what harm you could to him._"

Marduk growled. For once, he was truly angry.

"And whose fault is that?," Marduk said. "It's yours!"

"_What are you talking about_?," Light asked.

"Look at all of this!," Marduk said angrily, pointing at the assembly line around him. "You've been treating him like a pampered child! How can he evolve when he has such aid! He has to learn on his own!"

"_Marduk,_" Light said. "_Don't think I've forgotten what happened all those years ago._"

Marduk flinched.

"_You are still angry at the humans for what they did, but that's not reason enough to do all this."_

Marduk chuckled. "You're wrong, doctor Light. I'm no longer angry at humans. I pity them. They have lived with reploids for so long, yet they still refuse to accept, to appreciate the fact that reploids like X can and will evolve. I'll open their eyes for them."

"_What are you planning, Marduk_?," asked Light.

Marduk's shoulders opened, and he aimed his cannons at Light.

"You have already done your part," Marduk said. "You have taught X the same ideals you've taught me. Sigma has made X doubt the humans' cause and has opened his mind to other possibilities. Now it's my turn to guide him and Zero to their destinies."

"_Marduk," _Light said sadly.

Marduk fired.

Outside, the sound of a muffled explosion was heard very clearly, and the ground started to shake.

"What was that?," Strikewind asked after the tremor ceased.

"Marduk!," Lina said worriedly.

Marduk appeared from the hatch, unscathed. As he got closer Lina realized that his eyes seemed to be leaking. She reached out to clean them out, but Marduk grabbed her hand and gently put it down.

"Leave them," he told her. "I've waited a long time for these."

Strikewind was talking quickly into a headset. After a few minutes he turned to Marduk and said "We have an intruder."

"I see," Marduk said. "Took them longer than I thought."

Two guards on either side of a door were talking calmly to one another. They hadn't been informed yet of the intruder.

Suddenly a shadowy figure stood right in front of them.

"What the?," said one of the guards. Last thing they ever said.

The reploid went inside the room and flicked on the lights. Dynamo, the black and white armored reploid, smiled to himself. Too easy.

He went to work, sitting on a chair in front of the console and hacking into the mainframe. He finally found what he was looking for: the list of agents within the Maverick Hunters and Repleforce. Delving deeper, he unlocked the list that shocked even him.

"Well, now isn't this interesting?" he said with a smirk. The screen was showing him a map of the entire Earth. There were red dots all around the map, each representing a different base that belonged to the Maverick Hunters and Repleforce. But what was really shocking was the fact that in each base were at least three dozen R.L.F. spies, each one positioned in dangerous places.

"This is a gold mine," he said. He placed in a small disc and started the copy process. As he waited, he noticed another file, named "Enlightenment."

"What's this?," he asked. He went into the file and gasped in horror.

"What the?!," he said. "How did they make it this far?!"

He delved deeper, his amazement increasing.

"Targeting," Dynamo said. "Location, time of attack, estimated casualties! They've thought ahead!"

He recorded this as well and quickly ran out of the room. Just then, an alarm went off.

"Of all times!," Dynamo said angrily, and ran down the hall. There were guards on the other end of the hall that began firing at him. He smirked. He pulled out of his teeth a miniature magnet bomb that the government had given him. He threw it at the attackers. The magnet stuck to one's chest. They had a second to look at it before it exploded, killing all of them. Dynamo entered the next room.

He looked around and found himself in a large, slightly darkened room, with a large circular table in the middle, and a large window on top, showing the Earth.

"Quite the meddler, aren't you?," asked Marduk.

Dynamo gasped. Marduk was standing on the catwalk, looking at the Earth.

"How did you--?," asked Dynamo.

"This is my headquarters," Marduk said, jumping from the catwalk and facing Dynamo. He had his silver faceplate on.

Dynamo got into a fighting stance.

"Did you see?," Marduk asked.

"Oh, I saw it," Dynamo said.

"Then certainly you must see what my vision is about," Marduk said.

"Vision?," Dynamo snorted. "You're no different than Sigma. Just another fool that thinks he can take over the world with violence."

"Sigma wanted to replace humans with reploids," Marduk said. "He believed that Reploids were inherently better than humans. I have no such ideals."

"Really?," Dynamo asked. "Is that why you have agents on every bombardment station in orbit? Each one targeted at every major city on Earth?"

Marduk chuckled. "Just human cities?"

"What?," Dynamo asked.

"Some of the targets are also Reploid factory sites," Marduk said. "But I'm sure you've noticed."

Dynamo remained rather expressionless.. "What the hell are you planning?"

"Humans have made the mistake of thinking that reploids are unable to evolve," Marduk said. "Merely because reploids are copies of X, they believe only he possesses such power." He summoned his claws. "However, it is in the power of all reploids to evolve beyond their programming. Sigma saw this, but approached the matter wrongly."

He charged, slashing at Dynamo. Dynamo jumped back and slashed back. Marduk jumped high and landed on the catwalk.

"He tried to terminate humanity," Marduk said. "Thinking that only reploids possessed the power to evolve greatly, ignoring the fact that the evolutionary abilities of humans are virtually limitless."

Dynamo pulled out another magnet bomb and threw it at Marduk. Marduk jumped as the catwalk exploded under him. He flipped and landed with his back behind Dynamo. Dynamo turned around quickly, but Marduk was faster, and cut off Dynamo's arm. Dynamo yelled in pain and took a step back.

"Humans should not be extinct," Marduk said. "Instead, they must be led to understand that reploids will evolve no matter what they think. The only way for them to realize this is to drive them and reploids to the brink of extinction, thus forcing them to rely on one another."

"I still don't understand what X has to do with any of this," Dynamo said, grasping his shoulder.

"Reploids might have the ability to evolve," Marduk said. "But they lack the awareness that X or Zero has. I plan to turn X into a beacon of light that will lead them to this awareness."

Dynamo laughed. "What a waste of breath you are," he said. "Just another idiot who thinks he knows what's best for the world."

He suddenly started glowing a red aura, and a letter D appeared on his forehead. He suddenly felt an upsurge of power.

"How interesting," said Dynamo, looking at himself.

"There it is," said Marduk. "That's the hidden potential in all reploids. See how you've evolved? It may take longer with others, but it is still a possibility."

"Really?," asked Dynamo. He suddenly charged and punched Marduk hard on the chest, sending him against the wall. Marduk stopped himself by pressing his feet against the ground.

"Tell me, Dynamo, why are you fighting for the humans?," asked Marduk. "I never thought a reploid like yourself would care for these sort of matters."

"If I let you destroy the Earth, how am I going to get paid?," asked Dynamo. "You don't look like you could give me anything of interest." He chuckled. "And besides, if I bring your head, I'm sure they'll give me four times what I would have gotten from the data." He charged. "And with this new power, I feel pretty confident!"

He charged and punched Marduk hard on the face. The impact created a sonic boom.

Dynamo gasped. Marduk didn't even budge.

The letters W and L appeared on Marduk's forehead, and he was surrounded by a blue aura.

"Zero's and X's powers far exceed yours," he added. "I'm afraid only one of them will kill me."

He stabbed Dynamo repeatedly on the stomach and punched him back. Dynamo landed on the circular table and crushed it.

Marduk's cannons appeared from his shoulders.

"N-no," Dynamo said desperately. "Wait!"

.He fired, and Dynamo was blown to pieces.

Lina entered the room with a clipboard. She surveyed the destroyed room with mild interest, then reported to Marduk.

"We've intercepted most of the information that Dynamo sent to the human government," Lina said. "However, some of our plans may have gotten through."

"It doesn't matter," Marduk said, taking off his faceplate and looking back at Earth. "Nothing can stop this now. Events have gone just as I thought they would, and now it's time for our final act."


	5. Marduk

**CHAPTER 4**

**Marduk**

**Space Colony 0-5**

Marduk was Earth gazing when Lina entered the council room once more.

"Everything is ready," Lina said. "We await your orders."

"Proceed," Marduk said.

Lina bowed, and left wordlessly. Marduk gazed back at the Earth.

**Maverick Hunter HQ**

"A scientist?," X asked the commander.

Signas nodded. "It seems the State has decided to declassify some information on Marduk."

"Wait a minute," Zero said. "What do you mean, declassify? Are you telling me they had information on this guy all along?"

"It would seem that way," Signas responded.

"But then why didn't they give it to us earlier?," Axl asked confused. "Who knows how much that could have helped?!"

"I don't understand the reason either," Signas said. "But nevertheless we now might gain information that could aid us in our fight."

"I don't like this," Zero said skeptically. "Why wait till now to tell us?"

"It is rather suspicious," X said, looking just as skeptical.

"We have no choice," Signas said. "We need all the help we can get at this point, no matter how suspicious."

**HQ Runway (you know, airport)**

"So, who is this scientist supposed to be anyway?," Axl asked.

"His name is Dr. Giovanni Mackwell," Zero said. "I heard that he is among the top scientists of the age, and has been known to promote reploid progression in all aspects. He is also the son of Jason Mackwell, who was himself a great scientist."

"Sounds like a nice guy," X said.

They saw a large commercial airliner approach. It landed and slowly skidded to a halt.

"Nice, right," Axl said as he saw the hatch open. The stairs went down. "His probably an old man, with a bushy beard and an amazing likeness to Santa Cla--" He paused suddenly.

The man coming down the stairs wasn't old; if anything, he was too young. He looked very relaxed, with his loosely worn tie over his worn blue shirt. He had a white lab coat with it's sleeves rolled up, and under it he had a faded blue button shirt. He was wearing red sneakers that looked so worn and over-used he might have picked them from a dumpster. He wore small, square spectacles. He had bright brown eyes that gave an impression of someone who didn't have a care in the world, yet was curious of everything around him. His hair was light brown and he had a very small ponytail.

"What the heck?," X asked.

"This is… Mackwell?," Zero asked.

The man approached them, accompanied by a pretty female reploid with red hair. He stopped in front of them, and after surveying them closely, smiled widely.

"Hi guys," he said very casually, as if greeting old friends.

"Um, Professor Mackwell?," X asked.

"Ugh, please don't call me that," he said, waving his hand into the air as though he were shooing away the words. "Just Mack, alright?"

"Um, okay," X said, taken aback by the man's friendliness.

"You're here to tell us about Marduk, right?," Zero asked.

"Well, yeah, I guess," Mack said nonchalantly. He added with a smile, "But I need you to do me a favor first."

Zero gave him a questioning look.

"Will you please show me your index fingers?," he asked. "The three of you."

"What?," X asked.

"Why?," Zero asked confused.

"Just bear with me, okay?," said Mack.

Axl looked at the others with a dubious face. Zero shrugged, and the three of them showed him their fingers.

"That's good, leave them like that for a moment." Mack reached into his lab coat and pulled out a strange little pen-shaped object. He pricked the finger of each of them in quick succession.

"Ouch!," Axl said. "That hurt!"

"Not that much," Mack said. He gave the strange instrument to the reploid behind him. "Mary, be a dear and administer this to the rest of the HQ."

The reploid bowed and left.

"So!," Mack said cheerily. "Shall we be on our way?"

They walked into the HQ and were making their way towards the conference room. Zero, Axl and X remained a good distance behind Mackwell.

"Who does this guy think he is?," Axl asked Zero. "He just pricked us with god-knows-what and just goes on as if nothing happened."

"I understand what you mean," Zero said. "I can't help but think that this guy might be something of a nutcase."

"I don't know about that," X said. "I think he's just friendly."

"Friendly, huh?," Axl asked. "A little bit too friendly, if you ask me."

Commander Signas had already being waiting for them in the conference room when they entered. They all sat around the large table.

"Professor Mackwell," Signas said. "You may begin when ready."

"Boy, you cut straight to the chase, don't you?," Mackwell asked. He sighed. "All right."

He stood up and walked to the other end of the table. He turned to face them. He looked into his lab pocket and pulled out a small remote control. One press of a button, and a video screen appeared mid-air on top of the table. There wasn't anything shown on it yet.

"Now," Mackwell said. "As you all know, X is the pinnacle of reploid technology. He is the one reploid with the capacity of unlimited power thanks to his ability to copy any and all of his enemies' abilities. However, what almost no one knows is that right after X was built, Dr. Light began work on another reploid."

"Dr. Light?," X asked.

Mackwell nodded. "You see, around that time, maybe two years after you were put to sleep, we were able to do something we thought impossible."

"And that was?," Zero asked.

"We captured Wily," Mack said.

Zero was suddenly alarmed, but he didn't show it. For some reason, that named sounded familiar to him.

"It's sort of funny when you think about it," Mack said. "The guy was captured while he was buying a soda off a vending machine."

"Wily…," X said, recognizing the name. "I remember Dr. Light mentioning him."

"As well as he should," Mackwell said with a smile. "Wily was Rockman's worst enemy."

"But what does he have to do with any of this?," Axl asked.

"Oh, he has a lot do with all of this," Mackwell said. "You see, he aided Dr. Light in the construction of Marduk."

"What?," Signas asked, who up to now had been silent.

Mackwell chuckled. "It's one of those strange twists of fate. Of course, Wily didn't help us willingly. The threat of execution changed his mind."

"But why create Marduk?," Zero asked.

"At the time, the Maverick cases were still common even before Sigma, and since Rockman was gone and X was nowhere to be found, the government needed a replacement."

"I see," Zero said.

"Unfortunately, however," Mack continued, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "It didn't occur to anyone that maybe leaving an extremely powerful reploid in the hands of Dr. Light and allowing him to teach him his ideals was a bad thing. Dr. Light taught him the same things that he taught Rockman and X, a grave mistake."

"Why?," X asked. "Dr. Light obviously did it with the best intentions."

Mackwell gave X a sardonic smile. "Sometimes, people do the worst of things with the best of intentions, X."

"What?," X asked.

"Marduk's mind wasn't necessarily ready for an ideology of robot evolution," Mackwell said. "It caused him to seriously doubt his mission. He was fighting for humans and their safety, yet he found it hard to fault all robots. Most of them never actually hurt a human being. He was certain he could resolve things with the other robots if he had a chance at dialogue, but the humans, and some robots, wouldn't have it. His doubt increased."

_It's like listening to X's life story!, _Zero thought.

Mackwell continued. "Back then, the government was a lot less tolerant. They suspected him of being turned into a Maverick, and eventually decided to end him. They sent a special unit of reploids to dispose of him." Mackwell paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts, and continued. "It ended in disaster. Innocent humans had died in the mission, unfortunate casualties, and Marduk chewed right through the unit. One month later Marduk led an open revolt against Humanity."

"Wait a minute, what?!," Zero asked. "You mean he's done this before?!"

Mackwell nodded. "Disturbing, isn't it? Yes, he did lead an open revolt, but back then not that many reploids joined him. Eventually, he was surrounded. A combined army of humans and reploids, at least a quarter of a million strong, surrounded him in the desert."

"250,000?," Axl asked in disbelief.

Mackwell pressed another button on his controller. The screen suddenly lit up, and showed a bird's-eye view of the desert. Or at least, they would see the desert, if it wasn't for the fact there were thousands upon thousands of vehicles and men and robots covering the desert. They were all standing in front of an insignificant little dot that was Marduk. There was silence for a moment.

"Let me get it a little closer," Mackwell said. He pressed another button on the controller, and Marduk was suddenly a lot more visible. There was still silence. Then, all of a sudden, the sky was filled with rockets that were headed straight for him.

Marduk dashed forward, heading straight for the front lines. The rockets exploded all around him, but he charged on. One rocket almost scored a hit, but Marduk took out his claws and cut the rocket in half. There was an explosion, and Marduk came out of the smoke, still headed for the enemy. The tanks and other vehicles began firing their barrage. Marduk jumped, ducked and dashed around the enemy fire. The infantry then began to fire desperately, but the bullets only ricocheted off Marduk's armor. Marduk reached the first tank and cut off it's top half. The tank exploded. Then Marduk's shoulders opened, revealing his laser turrets. He fired.

In the video screen, all that could be seen was a string of explosions that seemed to increase in size at an alarming rate. Everyone except Mackwell gazed in horror.

"The entire battle lasted ten minutes," Mackwell said seriously. "This is what the battlefield looked like afterwards." He pressed the button, and everyone gasped.

The ground, as far as the eye could see, resembled a giant junkyard. Or perhaps a representation of what hell might look like if it accepted machines. There were destroyed vehicles everywhere; tanks, jeeps, APCs, even some aircraft. There were so many human and robot bodies that they actually raised the ground level a bit. The sky was so full of black smoke from the fires that it blocked out the sun. And standing amidst all this carnage and destruction was Marduk, who was looking down at the ground. His armor was red with blood, almost indistinguishable from his armor's red color.

"There were no survivors," Mackwell said.

"So, as you can see, Marduk is very powerful," he added.

"But then how were you able to stop him?," Zero asked.

"Funny you'd ask," Mackwell said, once again smiling. "Since it was you who stopped him."

"What?," Zero asked.

"You don't remember, of course," Mack said. "If I'm correct, you don't remember anything of your past."

"Do you know?," Zero asked.

Mackwell shook his head. "No, but I do know that you were created by Wily, although I don't know for what purpose. It was around this time that you were controlled by the Zero-virus."

_Zero-virus_, Zero thought. _Wreck mentioned it too._

"Back then, you weren't exactly the nicest guy around," Mackwell said. "I have a recording of your battle with Marduk."

"Show it to me," Zero said.

"Are you sure?," Mackwell asked. "You might not like what you see."

"Don't patronize me," Zero said impatiently. "And show me the video already."

"All right," Mackwell said. "As you wish."

He pressed another button on the controller. This time the recording seemed to come from a news copter. It showed a ruined city; many buildings were already destroyed entirely, while others had large chunks missing. Cars were upturned, streets were ruined and burning, and there were a few people and reploids laid dead on the ground.

"How horrible!," said a male reporter's voice. "How truly horrible! The entire city! I-it's gone! Look, over there!"

The camera moved to the roof of one of the skyscrapers. There was Zero and Marduk, both fighting so ferociously that their weapons looked like bright blurs.

"Zero?," X asked. Everyone noticed that Zero was shaking.

What nobody knew was that he was having a flashback…

_He attacked with a vertical slash down. Marduk sidestepped to the left to avoid it and attacked Zero with a thrust with his claws. Zero knocked Marduk's hand aside and aimed his Z-Buster right at his face. Marduk moved a split second before the beam hit his face. He pushed Zero back with his shoulder and aimed with his laser turrets. Zero ran in circles around Marduk, moving ahead of the beam that was following him. He rammed Marduk, and Marduk's lasers destroyed the helicopter that was flying above them. Marduk did a back flip from the ground to avoid Zero's saber._

_"Why are you helping the humans, Zero?," asked Marduk._

_Zero sneered. "Helping them? No, I couldn't care less about the humans. I just don't like you."_

_"I see," Marduk said. He gazed at the W on Zero's forehead. "Are you controlling your power, Zero? Or is it controlling you?"_

_"What?," asked Zero._

_Marduk charged Zero. Zero charged back, and managed to cut off Marduk's left arm. Marduk ignored the pain and grabbed Zero's head with his right hand._

_"Program Seal!," Marduk shouted. _

_Zero screamed as he suddenly felt an invasive force enter his mind. Marduk let go, and fell on his back. The W on Zero's forehead vanished, and he also blacked out…_

"Zero!," X said alarmed.

Zero was suddenly awake. He breathed hard. He looked around and found that he was still on his chair, being stared by worried eyes.

"What did you say?," Zero asked to no one in particular.

"I was just saying that you had vanished soon after the fight," Mackwell said. "Marduk was apprehended."

"Oh," Zero said, now rubbing his eyes with his fingers.

"Did you remember anything?," Mackwell asked.

It was hard for Zero to contain his sudden fright.

_Did he know_?, he thought desperately.

"I didn't remember anything," Zero said quickly. "I was just thinking."

"Hmm, is that so?," Mackwell asked.

Zero could tell what Mackwell was telling him with those eyes. _Bullshit._

"Wait," Axl said, apparently not aware of the tense situation. "If you detained him, then why is he still lose?"

"It seemed he still had followers," Mackwell said. "He was sprung free a year later. He disappeared till now."

"Just what were you thinking, keeping all of this from us?," Zero asked.

"It's not my job to handle information," Mackwell said. "I suppose the government hoped that that would be the last of Marduk. I can't understand why, though."

"I don't think anyone can," X said.

"Any reason why Marduk would come back?," Zero asked.

"Revenge, perhaps?," Signas suggested.

Mackwell shook his head. "No, that doesn't sound like Marduk. If he came back, it might be for the same reasons, or he might have some other ideal to follow. But I doubt it's revenge that he has in mind."

Everyone in the room remained quiet, thinking of Marduk's new reason for coming. Just then, Alia's voice could be heard from the intercom.

"_Commander Signas! There's a transmission from the R.L.F.! It looks like Marduk's about to give a speech!"_

"What?," asked Signas. "Let's go to the bridge," he ordered the other three.

"Oh, X. Before you go, there's something I'd like to give you," Mackwell said.

"What is it?," X asked.

Mackwell searched in his pocket and threw X a small chip.

"What is this?," X asked.

"It's Wreck's special chip," Mackwell said. "I know you have the power to copy a boss' ability, so there you have it."

"Oh," X said. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," Mackwell said with a grin. "Just make sure you use it wisely."

"I will," X said, managing a half smile. "Thanks again."

He left the room.

Inside the control bridge, Alia and the other navigators were quickly working, trying to find the source of the transmission.

"Well?," asked Signas as he entered the room. He was followed by X, Zero and Axl.

"It seems Marduk was able to hack into all forms of communications and is about to give out a speech," said Alia. "We have visual, now."

A screen lit up in front of them, showing Marduk standing alone in front of the R.L.F banner, wearing a silver face plate and a commander's cape. He looked very imposing.

"Can you get a trace on the signal?," asked Signas.

"Already on it," Alia said.

Marduk began his speech.

"Humans and Reploids of Earth! I am the leader of the Reploid Liberation Front, Marduk! As you well know, we have already declared to have no intentions of fighting humanity over dominance. However, the current government would never allow us to thrive for fear of losing their power. People of Earth, we don't wish to grow powerful, only to be free! We wish for equality between Reploids and Humans! Both species have the potential for great evolution!" He paused, then continued, "But there are too many, both human and reploid, that think otherwise! Many humans think that reploids are nothing but servants, while many reploids think that humans are an inferior species! But I plan to show them, to show you all differently! The time for unity, is now!"

Suddenly, an alarm.

"We're receiving a distress signal from our base in Antarctica!," said Alia suddenly. "It's under attack by R.L.F forces!"

"What?!," asked Signas.

"Distress call from a Repleforce base in the Sahara!," said Lair, typing furiously. "They're also under attack from the R.L.F.!"

"A distress signal from another of our bases in the Amazons!," said Palette. "They're also under attack from R.L.F. forces!"

"The distress calls are coming from everywhere!," Alia said. "It's a global attack! All Maverick Hunters and Repleforce bases are under attack!"

"But how is this happening?!," Signas asked horrified.

"It looks like they've been planning this for a long time," Zero said. "I'm amazed they were able to infiltrate all of the bases."

"So much for unity, eh?," Axl said.

Another alarm.

"HQ under attack!," said Alia.

"Took them long enough," Zero said.

"Where are they?," asked Signas.

"Our forces have them hold up in the briefing room!," said Alia. "Sight of boss confirmed! They don't know how long they'll be able to hold them in there!"

Signas turned to the trio behind him.

"Go and intercept the enemy forces!," he ordered. "Make sure to do it quick! We'll try to triangulate Marduk's position from here!"

"Yes sir," X said. "Let's go!"

They ran out of the room and down the hall.

As they ran, various reploids appeared carrying weapons. They fired at them.

"What the--?," asked Axl. They dodged the gunfire and fired back, taking down the reploids.

"It looks like some of them were able to break through," Zero said. "We better be careful."

"Right," X said.

They didn't encounter any more enemies, however, and they were able to reach the entrance of the briefing room without incident. There they found some reploid soldiers standing on either side of the door and nearby, taking cover behind the walls.

"How's the situation?," Zero asked when they got to them.

"Bad," said the reploid. "Another squad had entered earlier, but they're dead now."

"The boss?," asked Zero.

"Inside," said the reploid.

"I know that," Zero said. "I meant… no, never mind. Head back to the bridge and defend it. We'll take it from here."

The reploid nodded and left with the others.

"How come we always have the hard fights?," Axl asked.

"Because we're the only ones that can fight them," X said.

"Let's go," said Zero.

They entered the briefing room.

It was a battlefield; the walls were full of bullet holes and slice marks. There were dead reploids everywhere, and their blood oil made the ground rather slick. Standing where the hologram projector once stood was a female reploid. She had long, green hair. She wore purple armor and had a large scythe with a laser blade.

"How nice," she said with a wicked smile. "Someone else to play with."

"Who are you?," asked Zero.

"You should know that," she said. "But if it's my name that you want, it's Violet."

"Why did you this?," asked X.

"Why?," asked Violet with a raised eyebrow. "That's a dumb question. This is war now. Anything goes." She smiled, adding, "Besides, I take a certain amount of pleasure cutting things up, whether they're people or reploids."

"Freak," said Axl in disgust.

"Maybe," Violet said. She got into a fighting stance. "Do try to entertain me a bit now, won't you? This last squad didn't even last 30 seconds."

Zero drew his Z-saber and charged. X and Axl fired. Violet spun her scythe in front of her, deflecting the shots. Then she held her scythe steady and parried Zero's attack. She slashed at him, but he ducked and jumped back, firing with his Z-Buster. Violet jumped back to avoid the shot. X charged up his buster and fired.

"I'm not that easy to kill," Violet said. She swung her scythe vertically in the shot's direction and sent a beam of energy straight for X's attack, cutting it in half. The halves exploded harmless at either side of her.

"What?," Axl asked. "She uses her scythe as a long range weapon?"

"Nice, isn't it?," Violet asked. She swung her scythe repeatedly, sending multiple energy waves at them. They dashed to avoid the attack while firing back. Violet sent one last energy slash and charged for X. X ducked to avoid her attack and fired straight at her chest with a partially charged attack. The attack sent her flying to the air. Zero took this chance and attacked her with his saber. She blocked him, but her scythe was cut in the process. She flipped and landed on her feet.

"Damn you," she said angrily.

"So now what?," Zero asked.

She smiled. "Now we play my favorite game."

She extended her hands and small laser knives appeared on each one. Then another Violet suddenly appeared, and another, and another…

"What the heck?," asked X.

"Holograms?!," Zero asked.

"Now," they heard Violet say. "Let's play the guessing game. Think you can tell who's me?" She chuckled. "If you lose, you die."

Suddenly she threw her knives, and they struck Axl in the leg.

"Damn!," said Axl. He fired, but only hit holograms.

"Axl, calm down!," Zero said. "You're only wasting ammo!"

More knives flew from among the holograms. Zero noticed on time and was able to move out of the way. The knives only grazed his shoulders.

"Very good," Violet said. "But how long can you keep it up?"

"X, any ideas?," Zero asked. He noticed X didn't answer. "X?"

"Why?," X asked.

"What?," Violet asked.

"Why are you doing this?," X asked.

"Didn't I already tell you?," Violet asked. "This is war, and I simply enjoy it."

"You're lying," X said.

"What?," she asked.

"You have to be lying," X said. "You wouldn't have joined Marduk just for a chance to kill."

Violet remained silent.

"Tell me why, Violet!," X demanded.

"You wish to know the real reason?," Violet asked.

"Yes," X said.

"The reason I joined Master Marduk is, simply, because he showed me the truth," she said.

"What truth?," X asked.

"The potential that all reploids possess," Violet said. "Before joining Marduk, I was created to be an assassin. I hated that duty. I wanted to be free of it, to escape that sort of life, but I felt that I had no choice. It was my programming. It was meant to be my only destiny." She paused for a moment. "Then Marduk came, and he showed me that I did have the ability to choose. He showed me how reploids can equal humans, that we could actually live with them. I was finally able to quit that terrible life of mine."

"But you're doing it again!," X said angrily, suddenly confused. "By fighting for Marduk, you're being an assassin again!"

"I know," she said. "But there is one, very important difference."

"And what is that?!," X asked.

"I chose," she said. Knives suddenly appeared and struck X on the shoulders.

"X!," Zero said. But X didn't reply. He didn't seem to notice the knives.

"You chose," he said. He clenched his fists. "I see."

"X?," Zero asked.

Suddenly X was surrounded by a bright light.

"I don't agree with that choice," he said. "You chose to hurt innocent people."

He looked up at all the holograms. "I'll never forgive that!"

His armor suddenly turned black and slightly thicker.

"What the?," Violet asked.

X lifted his hands, and hundreds of small black spheres materialized in thin air.

"My god!," said Violet. "That's Wreck's power!"

X scattered all the spheres around the room. He hit all the holograms. Violet was unable to dodge the overwhelming number of spheres, and was struck by dozens of them. She fell back on the floor, her armor cracked almost to pieces.

"D-damn you, X!," she said angrily.

"Give up," X said, aiming his buster at her. "You can't win."

She drew out more knives, grinning.

"I'll never fail Master Marduk," she said. "I'll fight for him till I die!"

She charged.

X fired a long, black javelin that pinned her against the wall.

"It's over," X said.

"Finish… me," she said.

"No," X said. "There's no point."

Violet blinked, then chuckled.

"How… interesting," she said weakly. "How very… interesting. I… can see… why Master… Marduk has such an… interest in… you."

She opened a compartment in her arm and tossed X a small chip.

"What?," X asked.

"That's… my chip," she said.

She began to glow.

"Violet?," X asked.

"I'm...sorry...but...I won't...betray...Marduk..."

"X, get down!," Zero said. He pushed X towards the ground at the same moment that Violet exploded. It was a tremendous explosion. After the smoke cleared, Zero stood up.

"Are you all right, Axl?," he asked.

"I'll live," Axl responded.

"X?," Zero asked.

X was standing quietly beside Zero, holding a piece of armor that had once belonged to Violet.

"Why?," he asked, looking around at the bloody briefing room. "Why are they doing this? What is Marduk thinking?"

"X," Zero said.

Just then, Alia's voice could be heard.

"Zero, X, Axl, come quick!," she said.

"We're coming!," said Zero. He looked at X again.

"X, I don't know what to say," Zero said. "I'm not good with this kind of thing, but what I can say for sure is that crying won't solve a thing. If you really want to stop all this, then come with us. Let's defeat Marduk and end this once and for all."

X placed the piece of Violet's armor back on the floor.

"For all the people that Marduk's sacrificed," Zero added.

X wiped the tears off his eyes and stood up. He looked at Zero with renewed determination.

"Let's do it," he said.

Zero smiled.

"Well, isn't this great?," Axl asked.

"Are you all right?," Zero asked.

"I'll be fine," Axl said. "I can still move my leg, anyway."

"Good," Zero said. "Let's go."

The others nodded, and they ran for the bridge.

Inside were various wounded reploids and even some dead enemies. The Commander had a few scratches, but nothing serious.

"Finally," Signas said. "We've been waiting."

"Where is he?," Zero asked.

"We weren't able to trace the signal back to Marduk," Alia said regrettably. "They jammed us at the last second."

"That's not good," Axl said.

"It isn't," Signas said. "But that's not our immediate problem."

"Then what is?," Zero asked.

"The R.L.F.'s attack on the bases was largely unsuccessful. All of the bases were held save for one," said Signas.

"And that is?," X asked.

"A Repleforce base in the African region," Signas said. "A boss by the name of Swordsman led that attack."

"Again with the names," Axl said, shaking his head sadly. "Honestly, who names these people?"

"Why would they send a boss at just one base?," Zero asked. "It's sort of understandable that they'd send a boss here, but to send a boss at any other? What does that base have that made it so special?"

"It might be the mineral deposits that are nearby," Signas said. "It's from there where most materials needed for production of reploid parts are gotten from."

"So, can we go there?," X asked.

"That's the strangest part," Signas said. "We can go directly into the boss' chamber."

"What?," Zero asked.

"Why?," X asked, just as surprised.

"It was Swordsman himself," Signas said. "He would allow four Maverick Hunters to fight him."

"Four?," Axl asked. "Why four?"

"Well," X said. "I guess that means the three of us, and..."

"Me," Ina said, entering the bridge.

"Ina?," X asked.

"Where the hell did you come from?," Zero asked.

"Shut up," Ina said. "Anyway, I'm coming."

"You'd only hold us back," Zero said. "You'd help a lot more if you just guarded the base."

"Why don't you go back to the scrap heap where they found you?," Ina retorted angrily.

"That's enough, you two," Signas said. "Ina, if you're in good condition, you may go."

"I'm fine," Ina said. "Just because I'm human doesn't make me weak."

"Just frail," Zero said.

"I'm warning you, pretty boy," Ina said.

Signas sighed. "Very well then," he said. "We have the coordinates. Go and get ready."

They all nodded and left the bridge, save for X.

"Hey, Commander," he said. "Why do you think Zero and Ina fight so much?"

"I don't know about Zero. Maybe he's just worried she might get seriously injured." Signas said. "As for Ina, she has a certain hatred of reploids. She must also be tired of being taken so lightly."

"Hmm," X said. "Well, I'll be going now."

"Good luck, X," Signas said. X nodded and left.


	6. Believer

CHAPTER 5 

**Believer**

**Repleforce base in Africa, now under control of the R.L.F...**

"Yes, the base has been secured," Swordsman said into the communicator. "We're beginning the next stage."

"Good job," Marduk said. "We'll arrive with reinforcements as soon as you complete your mission. Until then, be careful."

"Understood," Swordsman said. "Swordsman out."

He left the bridge and entered the chamber where he would fight. On the west side of the chamber was a large cross, nailed against the wall. He pulled out his two large swords and made a cross with them while facing the wooden cross.

"Lord," he said. "Watch over my troops, and allow me to complete my mission." He closed his eyes and said a short prayer.

"I wonder," he said after praying. "Would God listen to a reploid?"

The four beamed into the chamber. They looked around, their weapons drawn out. Nothing.

"What's going on?," Zero asked.

"Look," Axl said, pointing towards one side of the chamber.

There they saw one reploid, kneeling on one knee in front of a large, wooden cross that had been nailed against the wall. The reploid's armor was sleek, silver and blue. He looked like a medieval knight. He had two large swords on his back.

"Swordsman?," Zero asked.

The reploid looked up at the cross.

"Isn't it strange?," he asked with a small smile. "Whenever I pray, I feel… at ease." He stood up and faced the group. "I'm glad you took my challenge seriously."

"Like we had a choice," Zero said.

"I suppose you didn't," Swordsman responded.

"Were you, praying?," X asked, completely off the subject.

Swordsman chuckled. "I was," he said. He pointed at the cross with his thumb. "I've heard that the humans have religions, beliefs in an afterlife. I decided to adopt the most fitting religion, Christianity."

"A reploid with a religion?," Ina asked. She snorted. "Well, isn't that news?"

"Is that really so wrong?," Swordsman asked. "Christianity embraces all who decide to follow it."

"What were you praying for?," X asked, once more completely off the subject. It was as if he wasn't listening to anyone else.

"My troops," Swordsman said seriously. "And for the success of my mission."

"As if God would listen to a heap of metal," Ina said.

"I have my own doubts about that," Swordsman said. "Would God listen to me? Or does he not listen to those who were made by man?"

"Say what?," asked Axl.

Swordsman smiled. "You're right. Let us begin." He drew out his swords. "If any of you wish to retreat, do so now."

"Not a chance!," Ina said, shouldering her bazooka. She fired.

Swordsman dashed forward dodging the missile. He attacked Zero, who parried his attack and fired with his buster. Swordsman knocked the blast aside with his swords and swung them in mid-air. Two large beams of energy went straight for X and Axl, who dashed out of the way.

"He has the same attack as Violet?!," Axl asked.

Swordsman charged for X. X fired at Swordsman, but he kept sidestepping each shot. Swordsman swung down at X. X blocked the swords with his cannon arm by hitting their flat side. He and Swordsman were now caught in a deadlock.

"You say you're Christian, right?," X asked. "So why are you fighting? Christianity is supposed to be a religion of peace, isn't it?!"

Swordsman chuckled. "You know your religion, X," he said. He jumped back and used his sword to deflect Axl's bullets in mid-air. Ina fired another missile. Swordsman cut it in half, and the pieces exploded behind him.

"But you see, X," he continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. "The fact that I fight makes me more Christian than most human beings."

"What?," X asked.

"Throughout history, Christianity has been a religion of violence and self-sacrifice," said Swordsman. "From martyrdom to the crusades, from the Inquisition to the Reform, humans have paved their religion with blood." He made a cross with his swords. "A Christian is he who fights for his belief while putting his faith on God! In other words, a crusader!" He charged, attacking Zero. Zero was dashing backwards as he dodged and parried Swordsman's attacks, which had intensified. "This is my crusade! The R.L.F.'s crusade!," Swordsman said loudly. "To fight for the reploid's freedom! For our equality! And I believe that God will grant us that victory, for our cause is holy!" He kicked Zero under the chin, sending him airborne.

"Zero!," X said, who had until then being shocked by Swordsman's speech. He aimed and fired a charged up shot. A bubble of energy suddenly surrounded Swordsman at the last second. The shot connected, and a large explosion followed. Zero landed on his feet.

"Did you get him?," Axl asked.

When the smoke cleared, Swordsman was untouched.

"I will not lose," he said.

"No way!," Axl said.

"A shield?!," Zero asked.

"I don't believe it," X said.

"My protective sphere cannot be penetrated by such simple attacks," Swordsman said. "Now, I believe it's time to finish my mission."

He fired his blade beams again, forcing everyone on the defensive. He charged for Zero again, and swung down his swords. Zero sidestepped him and swung back with his Z-saber. Showing amazing reflexes and flexibility, Swordsman dodged Zero's attack while sheathing one of his swords. He grabbed Zero with his left hand.

"You're mine!," he said victoriously. He summoned the same bubble of energy he had used earlier and trapped Zero inside it. Before anyone could do anything, Zero was suddenly electrocuted inside the bubble. When it stopped, Zero was unconscious.

"Zero!," X said. He fired again, but Swordsman deflected each shot with his sword.

Suddenly, multiple beams of energy appeared behind Swordsman. Marduk materialized, along with various other reploids, including a pink-haired female reploid that stood beside him.

"Marduk!," X said.

"What a pleasure to meet you in person, X," Marduk said. "But I'm afraid I have to keep this visit short." He looked at Swordsman and the bubble. "Good job," he said.

"Thank you," Swordsman responded. He gave the bubble to Lina. "Make sure to keep your hands on it, or it will stop functioning."

"You're not coming?," she asked.

"I want to finish what I started," he said. He looked at Marduk. "Please understand."

Marduk remained silent for a moment, then nodded. "Do as you wish," he said.

"Marduk!," Ina shouted furiously. Marduk looked up and grabbed a missile a second before it hit his face.

"What the?," he asked. He searched with his eyes and found Ina, still aiming her launcher at him. "Ina?," he asked.

"Big mistake, jack-ass!," she said. She pressed a button on the launcher, and the missile on Marduk's hand began to beep.

"Oh," he said. The missile exploded in his face.

"Got him!," Ina said, then gasped. Marduk appeared from the smoke, unscathed.

"I'm a lot stronger than you seem to think," Marduk said. "I'm afraid it'll take more than a simple missile to kill me. Still, it's good to see you in good health, Ina."

"Oh, shut it, you hypocrite!," she said.

"That's certainly something, coming from a human that claims to hate reploids yet fights by their side," said Marduk. "I believe this conversation must come to an end now. Until later, X." He turned to Swordsman. "Farewell, my friend."

"For the liberation of all reploids," Swordsman said.

"For a united future," Marduk said. He beamed out of the chamber with the rest of the reploids, including Zero.

"Damn it!," X said.

Swordsman got into his fighting stance again.

"With my mission complete, I don't have to hold back anymore," he said. "So X, what will you do now?"

"What are you going to do to Zero?!," X asked angrily.

Swordsman smiled. "Every Savior must have a Judas, X," he said.

"What do you mean?," X asked.

"Damn you!," Axl said.

He fired at Swordsman with ferocity, and Swordsman found himself dashing around the room, trying to fire back. Ina fired a missile in Swordsman's way. He stopped dashing as the missile exploded in front of him. X took the chance and fired a charged up shot. This time Swordsman couldn't move out of the way in time, and in his desperation summoned his protective sphere with only partial power. The shield shattered at the attack, knocking Swordsman against the wall. When he opened his eyes he found, to his great dismay, Ina standing in front of him, her right arm glowing.

"How did you--?!," Swordsman asked, but never finished.

Ina punched him hard on the stomach with her right fist, then began hitting him with a flurry of punches, her veins throbbing. She finally grabbed his head and tossed him across the room. He rolled on the floor and stopped face down, in front of the cross. He still had his swords grasped tightly in his hands. He turned his head slightly and saw Ina approach, her bazooka on her shoulder.

"T-that arm," he said weakly. "I-I didn't think I'd f-fight a, mechanized human."

"That's right," Ina said. She raised her arm in front of her and clenched her fist. The artificial skin had come off from the force of her attacks, revealing an armor-plated arm with some exposed circuits. Her arm was glowing, visible white lines covering it. "It's thanks to you reploids that I have this damn arm."

Swordsman shakily stood up.

"Your eyes," he said as he looked at her. "I see hatred in them. Do you truly hate us so much?"

Ina aimed her bazooka at him.

"More than you'll ever know," she said.

"Ina, don't!," X said. "He's already beat! He can't fight back!"

Swordsman chuckled. "Don't be so certain, X," he said. "I'm not done fighting yet."

"What?," asked X.

Swordsman gave out a loud battlecry, and his swords began to glow. His eyes turned red. He charged at Ina and Axl, who was standing beside her, as they both fired at him. He ran straight through all the firepower, getting grazed and hurt as he did, and swung wildly at them, forcing them on the defensive. He swung his blades in mid-air, and red colored beams headed straight for them. Ina was able to dodge it, but the beams cut off Axl's left leg. Axl shouted out in pain. Swordsman went straight for him and kicked him in the face, sending him against the wall, right under the cross. He was about to turn on Ina when he was struck on the back by a half-charged shot. He looked back and saw X aiming at him with his buster, which was now fully charged.

"That was a warning shot, Swordsman!," X said. "You can't win! I can tell you're draining a lot of energy in that form!"

Swordsman chuckled.

"So you say," he said. He leaped high into the air and went down straight for X.

X fired, blowing away Swordsman's right arm and a better part of his chest. Swordsman swung his sword down with his remaining arm, and X once again blocked it with his cannon arm, hitting the flat side of his sword.

"Stop it, Swordsman!," X said desperately. "It doesn't have to end this way! I know you're not like the others!"

"What do you mean?," Swordsman asked, suddenly confused.

"You didn't kill Axl," X said. "Even though you had the chance. There's still hope for you, Swordsman!"

Swordsman closed his eyes. He smiled.

"The Christians believe in a man called Jesus, whom they call their Savior, and God's son," he said. "With his sacrifice, Jesus cleansed their sins and lead them to the path of righteousness and peace. He unified a people."

"Swordsman?," asked X.

Swordsman opened his eyes and looked at X straight in the eyes.

"Will you not be our Savior, X?," he asked. "Will you not use your power, and lead us reploids and humans down our righteous path?"

"What are you talking about?," X asked.

"Be our Messiah, X," Swordsman said. His smile almost seemed pleading. "Be our beacon of hope."

He backed out of the deadlock and ran straight for Axl, his sword drawn all the way back, his face full of determination.

"Stop, Swordsman!," X shouted desperately. Ina didn't move, observing with inquisitive eyes.

"For the R.L.F.!," shouted out Swordsman. "For unity!" He thrust his sword at Axl's terrified face.

"No!," yelled X, and fired.

The shot went right into Swordsman's back and out his chest. He staggered back and fell with his back on the ground. X realized with horror that Swordsman wasn't aiming for Axl's face; he had just grazed his cheek, having stuck the sword on the wall.

"W-why?," X asked, confused and horrified. "W-why did you that?! Why did you make me kill you?!"

Swordsman looked up at the cross. "We reploids, lead an accursed life. Is it fair that we live so miserably, yet die and just fade away?" He looked deeply saddened. He stretched out his hand to the cross. "Don't we, have souls too? Does… our suffering… mean nothing?" He sobbed, yet no tears came out. "Tell me…God. Don't we…deserve…Heaven… as well?"

He stopped talking. A moment later he crackled electricity and exploded.

X fell on his knees and punched the ground furiously.

"Why?!," he shouted. "He didn't have to die! He wasn't like the rest of them! He didn't deserve to die!"

Ina growled. She walked towards X and pulled him up with her right arm, making him look at her.

"Then who does, X?!," she shouted at his face. "Who the hell do you not cry for?! Sigma?! Open your eyes, X! This is war! Shit happens! And don't forget that you're a hunter! Your job, our job, is to kill Mavericks! There's no way around it! You chose to kill, so either you cut these 'sad hero' crap or quit!"

"Ina," X said, extremely shocked.

Ina growled in frustration and pushed X back.

"You're pathetic!," she said in disgust, and beamed out.

X blinked, then remembered that Axl was still hurt. He approached Axl.

"Are you all right?," he asked.

"I'll be fine," answered Axl. "X, don't listen to Ina. She doesn't like reploids anyway. She's probably just angry because she didn't finish Swordsman off."

"Yeah," X said rather absentmindedly.

"Hey, don't worry," Axl said reassuringly, completely misreading X's face. "We'll find Zero."

"Right," X said, trying to smile but only making a strange expression. He put Axl's right arm on his shoulders and helped him up. "Let's go," he said. They both beamed out of the chamber.

**Space colony 0-5**

Lina entered a small laboratory room. In the middle was a large capsule full of water. Inside was Zero, who was connected to a serious of cables that fed data into the surrounding computers. Standing in front of the capsule was Marduk and Strikewind, while a shadowy human figure stood out of the way.

"Swordsman didn't make it," Lina reported sadly.

"I expected as much," Marduk said. He sighed sadly. "This wasn't part of the plan."

"All plans must have flaws," said Strikewind.

"But not this kind," Marduk said. "More have died than I thought, and after this, I'm sure the Maverick Hunters, Repleforce, and maybe even the humans might decide to take the offensive again."

"I don't think they will," Strikewind said. "If what he said is true," he pointed at the human. "Then we won't have to worry for a while."

"Oh, it's true," said the human. "I made sure of it."

"I'll trust you," Marduk said. "Because I don't have much choice. But don't betray us."

"I won't," said the human. "After all, you and I share a similar dream."

"How goes the investigation?," Marduk asked him, referring to Zero.

"Well, we've made some interesting breakthroughs," said the human. "Of course, old man Wily helped a lot. Before he died, that is."

"And?," insisted Marduk.

The human said, "We've discovered some interesting things regarding the virus."

"And that would be?"

"Well, it might not be a virus at all," said the human.

"What?," Strikewind asked alarmed. "But then what is it?"

"We don't know yet," said the human, pushing his glasses up the rim of his nose. "But it is very interesting."

"Indeed," Marduk said. "Continue with the research, and make sure to hurry it up. Things are going faster than expected."

"I understand," said the human, and left, giving Lina a small wink.

"Can we really trust him?," asked Strikewind. "A man like him, who holds so much influence over both the human government and reploids, could prove to be a threat."

"I know," said Marduk. "But unfortunately, he is the only one who knows about Zero, more so than even Wily. And besides, we fight to ensure such trust and unity between humans and reploids. If we don't start trusting humans now, then what are we fighting for?"

"I understand," Strikewind said. "If you'll excuse me." He left the room.

Now it was only Marduk and Lina.

"Was Swordsman's death part of your plan?," she asked.

"No," Marduk said. "I should have dragged him back."

"Maybe he wanted to see if X really was our only hope," Lina suggested.

"Maybe," Marduk said. He looked up at the ceiling. "Lina, do you think Swordsman got see God?"

"What?," Lina asked.

"Yes," Marduk said, as if Lina had answered him. "Of course he did." He gazed at Zero. "It's sad, that more blood must be spilled. But with it, a new age will begin. Zero, X, your destiny draws near."

Lina also looked at Zero, but not with the same feeling of destiny as Marduk. Instead, uncertainty crept into her mind. _Is it really worth all this_?


	7. Ina's Sadness

**CHAPTER 6**

**Ina's Sadness**

Repleforce general Rexford stood uneasily in front of the large video screen that showed the State president. A grizzled, bulky, and tough reploid, veteran of various battles, Rexford prided himself in knowing he was tough, and that he was able to make the Repleforce strong again, especially after the disasters and humiliations they had suffered throughout the last decade. Now, however, this reploid wanted to be somewhere else.

"Do you understand what you are ordering me to do, sir?," he asked.

"Of course I do," said the president.

"But, it's just too inconceivable!," said the general desperately. "There isn't sufficient proof!"

"There is more than enough proof, General," said the president. "We have put too much faith in that reploid, and he has become a liability."

"But where is that proof?!," asked the General angrily.

"Our top scientists have confirmed that his mind has destabilized," said the leader. "There's more than enough proof with his constant hesitation in missions. One of the hunters themselves said he is too much of a security risk, something about 'worrying too much'."

"So he's a little emotional," said the general. "That's still no reason to--"

The president interrupted him angrily.

"That's enough, Rexford!," he said. "I did not come here to discuss with you the whys or ifs! Now do your duty!" The man took a deep breath and calmed down. "Prove to us that Repleforce can still be trusted." The video feed ended.

The General sat on his chair and gritted his teeth angrily.

_Damn it all, _he thought angrily. _This just doesn't make any sense at all. Why the sudden hostility_? _Since when were they so paranoid about him_?

He pressed a button on his desk and summoned his aide. The young looking reploid answered immediately, coming into the office just seconds after the General pressed the button.

"Yes sir?," he asked.

"Tell me, what's Nightwolf's current status?," he asked.

"He's currently in the base in standby," said the aide.

"Tell him to come to my office immediately," said the General.

"Sir," said the aide, and he left.

A few minutes later, Nightwolf entered the office. He was a reploid with black and white armor. He wore a helmet that covered his entire face, and there was only a very thin slit from where he could see, but wouldn't allow others to see his eyes. He had a long staff on his back and he carried a beam rifle. It was custom for him to carry weapons anywhere he went. He had the air of a stone-cold killer, who undoubtedly got some sort of satisfaction from the destruction he unleashed on his missions.

_No surprise there, _thought Rexford. _After all, the base design for this miserable bastard was Vile._

"You called?," asked Nightwolf. His voice was cold and sinister.

_Damn it, _thought Rexford. _He even talks like Vile._

"Well, Rexford?," Nightwolf asked rudely. The reploid had no respect for rank. "What is it?"

"It seems we need you for a mission," said the General.

"Obviously," said Nightwolf. "Otherwise I wouldn't be here."

The General remained silent.

"So?," Nightwolf asked. "Who is it you want me to kill this time?"

"This order… doesn't come from me," said the General. "This is a State order."

"Ho-ho!," said Nightwolf, clearly surprised. "Now it's interesting! So, what do our pathetic human leaders want?"

"Watch your mouth, Nightwolf," said the General warningly.

"Why?," Nightwolf asked contemptuously. "You know it's true. Humans are a weak and frail species. We serve them because…," He suddenly paused, remaining in deep thought. "Why **do** we serve them?"

"Nightwolf," said the General dangerously.

Nightwolf decided to take the situation seriously. He might be arrogant, but even he knew better than to cross the General.

"So what do they want?," he asked. "Who is it they want dead so badly they'd send for me?"

Rexford sighed. He pulled out a folder from his desk cabinet and gave it to Nightwolf. Nightwolf opened it and was so surprised he gasped.

"Him?!," he asked in amazement. "Maverick Hunter X?!"

"That's correct," said the General. "He's been accused of being turned into a Maverick due to a destabilization of his mind."

"Really?," asked Nightwolf. He tossed the file back onto the desk. "Sounds rather suspicious."

The General remained silent. Nightwolf shrugged.

"Whatever," he said. "It's not like I care anyway. This is perhaps the best mission ever given to me. To think, I'll get to kill the legendary X!" He laughed. "This is going to be fun! Still, I thought they'd send me after Marduk or someone from the R.L.F."

"Don't underestimate him," said the General. "He has more power than any other reploid, and his copy ability will prove to be a threat."

"What's this?," Nightwolf asked. "Are you worried about me, General?"

"I'm only giving you a warning," said the General.

Nightwolf chuckled. "You don't have to worry," he said. "You see, I, unlike X, don't have the pathetic weakness of hesitation."

"I know," said the General.

Nightwolf turned to leave. He stopped at the entrance.

"General, would you mind if I borrowed some troops?," asked Nightwolf.

"Why do you need troops?," asked the General.

"Oh, I have a little surprise for X," said Nightwolf.

"Hmm," said the General. "Very well. You may have two squads."

"Perfect," said Nightwolf. He gazed at the General.

"What?," asked the General.

"Are you sure you want X dead?," Nightwolf asked. "Because if you ordered otherwise, I'd listen."

"The hell you would," said the General. Nightwolf shrugged and left.

As he walked down the hall, excited thoughts raced in his mind.

_So, X, we finally get to see each other,_ he thought. Sinister memories came to mind. _I wonder if you still remember me_? His left eye suddenly glowed red. He chuckled malevolently. _What am I saying_? _Of course you do, _he thought. _After all, I swore to haunt your memories, till the day you die._

**Maverick Hunter HQ**

Ina was walking down the hallway when Axl suddenly greeted her.

"What do you want?," she asked.

"I was just wondering if you were alright?," Axl asked.

"What?," Ina asked, surprised.

"Well, it's just that you've been grumpier than usual," Axl said. "I just thought something might have happened."

Ina remained silent, very surprised at this act of kindness and worry.

"Who the hell are you trying to be, X?," Ina asked angrily. "Leave me alone." She left Axl without saying another word.

She entered the hangar, were various mechanical reploids were working on the ships.

_What are the frigging ships for anyway_?, she thought. _We beam virtually anywhere. _She suddenly thought about Axl.

_A reploid, worried about a human's feelings_?, she thought. _Maybe there's some kind of X-virus out there that nobody knows about yet._

She turned a corner and was suddenly grabbed from behind, her mouth covered with a hand. He pulled her behind some large crates, out of view from the other reploids.

"If you scream, I'll kill you," said the voice coldly. "Understand?"

Ina nodded, and the reploid let go.

"Who the hell are you?," she asked him as she faced him.

"I'm the one sent to kill X," he answered.

Ina gasped. "You're… Nightwolf?"

"That's right," Nightwolf said.

"What are you doing here?," she asked.

Nightwolf chuckled. "Normally I'd just barge in and kill everyone along with my target. Unfortunately, though, I'm under strict orders to only kill X. So I came looking for something to bait him."

"Why did you come for me?," Ina asked.

"I was wondering if you could tell me who'd make a good hostage?," Nightwolf asked. "After all," he added malevolently, "It was you who reported X's… deficiency."

"I won't help you," Ina said.

"I see," Nightwolf said. He suddenly charged, grabbing Ina's neck and right arm and pinning her against the wall.

"You seem to be under the mistaken impression that I can't do this by myself," he said. "I only came to ask you because I wanted to know if there was a particular person that X cared about."

"W-what?," Ina asked.

"You see, I don't want to just kill X," he said. "No, that would be too easy. No, I want to see him squirm. I want to see him writhe in agony as I take away something, or preferably someone, special to him. Otherwise, I could just pick any idiot around here. X is sure to come, even if I'd only hold a dog hostage. Any reploid would do as well." He tightened his grip around Ina's neck. "Even you, the very one who betrayed him. I could tell him what you did and hold you hostage, and he'd still come for you. The blue bastard's too nice for his own good." He closed his face to Ina's. Even at that close distance, Ina couldn't see his eyes. "But that's not what I want. Now, you will bring me that special someone to the infirmary in 20 minutes." His left eye began to glow. "Because if you don't, I'll kill everyone here, and after that, I'll go human hunting. That's sure to get X's attention, don't you think?"

Ina looked fearfully into Nightwolf's glowing eye. It seemed to shine from the reploid's sheer obsession. A hatred unlike anything she had ever seen glowed on that red eye, a hatred she had never seen even on humans. _Not even on me._

Nightwolf let her go, and she fell on her knees, coughing.

"So frail," he said. He laughed. "You have twenty minutes." He turned his back on her. "And don't worry. I've been ordered to make it look like you didn't have anything to do with this, so you'll be in the clear." He left, moving so quickly and silently he seemed to disappear.

"Goddamn it," she said bitterly. "What is he? What the hell is he? Who would let such a monster join Repleforce?"

_Who would let such a monster even exist_?

"It's strange that Douglas would call for me like this," Alia told Ina. "Especially when he hadn't used the intercom."

"Well, what can I say?," Ina said as they walked down the hall.

"So why are you coming to the infirmary?," Alia asked her.

"My arm's been acting up," said Ina, closing and opening her right hand. "I wanted to see if Douglas could do something about it."

"I see," Alia said. She decided to ask something she had been very curious about. "Who made you that arm?"

"Mackwell," Ina said. "Professor Giovanni Mackwell."

"He made that arm?," Alia asked, interested. Ina nodded.

"He's specialized in reploid technology," Ina explained. "But he is also an expert in human anatomy. He was able to build mechanical limbs that connected straight to the nervous system, thus allowing full and natural control. In cases like mine, these are strengthened. They also include special chemicals that changes and temporarily mutates my physiology." She smiled. "Heightened reflexes, greater physical endurance, improved senses… it's like steroids, but without the negative aftereffects."

"How did you lose that arm?," Alia asked after a moment of hesitation.

Ina's face grew somber.

Alia pressed on. "I heard that it was a reploid that took that arm, and that's why you hate reploids."

_Just how far is that damn infirmary anyway_?, Ina thought.

Alia sighed. "I'll understand if you don't want to talk about it."

"It wasn't just the arm," Ina said suddenly.

"What?," Alia asked.

Ina gripped her right hand tightly. "If it had only been the arm. But it wasn't."

"But then, what was?," Alia asked.

"It was ten years ago," she said. "Back when the rebuilding project started. I was with my parents in the C sector. "

"The C sector," Alia said. "But that's where…"

"It was beautiful," Ina said. "The beach, the sun. I had a great time." She smiled serenely as the memories came back Then she became serious. "But then I met him."

Flashback

_Ina (12 year old Ina) ran down the beach. She was playing with some friends. They ran all the way down to the face of a rocky cliff. She looked up in awe._

_"Hey, what's that?," asked a boy. He was pointing at a cave just below the cliff._

_"Let's go in it!," said Ina excitedly._

_"What?," asked a girl that was with them. "That's not a good idea, Ina. What if you get lost?"_

_"Oh, you're such a wimp, Sarah," Ina said. "Come on, Joshua, let's go."_

_"No way," he said. "The last thing I want to do is to get killed in a cave in the middle of nowhere."_

_Ina scoffed. "Yeah, I sure look forward to depending on you guys in the future."_

_She entered the cave, ignoring the pleas of her friends. She walked down the slightly lit cave. The strange angle of the cave allowed sunlight to come in. When she finally reached the bottom (it wasn't that far), she found herself in a surprisingly large chamber. She looked around in awe, wondering how it could be so bright, considering the little sunlight that was penetrating in. She found to her surprise a tall reploid sitting against the wall, his eyes closed. He had red and blue armor, with sharp shoulder pads. He had a calm face as he slept. His hair was long, and he wore a helmet._

_Ina approached the reploid and poked him on the face._

_"Hey, are you okay?," she asked._

_The reploid slowly opened his eyes._

_"Who are you?," he asked in no offensive tone._

_"I'm Ina," she said._

_"Where am I?," he asked._

_"You're in Sector C!," Ina said. "Puerto Rico, to be more precise."_

_"Hmm, he said. "I wonder how I made it here?"_

_"You don't know?," Ina asked._

_"Not really, no," he said. "I'm Marduk, by the way."_

_"Marduk," Ina said. "Kinda dumb for a name."_

_He chuckled. "Maybe."_

_"So, can you move?," Ina asked._

_"I don't know," Marduk said. "I think I can." He tried moving his arms, but only ended up groaning. _

_"Are you okay?," Ina asked worriedly._

_"It seems I spent more energy than I thought," he said. "I can't move."_

_"Oh," Ina said. Then she slammed her fist on her hand. "I know. You just need an energy drink! That's what all reploids drink, anyway."_

_"That would be nice," Marduk said. "But I wouldn't want to bother you."_

_"Nah, it's all right," Ina said. "My friends are gone by now anyway."_

_"What?," Marduk asked. "But won't they be worried that you're here, alone?"_

_"No," Ina said. "They know I can take care of myself."_

_"I see," Marduk said._

_"Well, see you soon," Ina said, and left._

_Twenty minutes later she came back, gritting her teeth and muttering angrily. She was carrying a plastic bag full of cans._

_"What's wrong?," Marduk asked._

_"I hate it when reploids take me for an idiot," she said. "Telling me not to drink this. Well obviously I'm not going to drink something so poisonous for humans!" She pulled out one of the cans and opened it. "Here," she said. "I'll give it to you."_

_She placed the can on his mouth and allowed him to drink. She repeated this three times, and Marduk could now grab the cans himself._

_"I tell you," Ina said as she sat down beside him. "Some reploids have some nerve."_

_"True," Marduk said after emptying another can. "But then they were simply worried."_

_"They didn't seem worried to me," Ina said. Marduk sighed._

_"There are reploids who look down on humans with contempt. It is unfortunate, when one believes that he is superior to another. But there are also humans who think that reploids are nothing but servants. If that was all we were meant to be, then humans should have never given us our intelligence."_

_"So it's all a big irony, huh?," Ina asked. Marduk nodded._

_"The created that hates the creator," Marduk said. "And the creator that doesn't understand the created. It really is an irony."_

_Ina giggled._

_"What's so funny?," Marduk asked curiously._

_"It's just the way you talk," Ina said. "It's like you're in some play."_

_"Maybe I am," Marduk said. He placed the last can back in the bag. "I think that should do it." _

_He stood up, and Ina was amazed at how tall he was._

_"So, what are you going to do now?," Ina asked._

_"I don't know," Marduk said. "I don't think I should leave yet."_

_"Oh," Ina said. "Can I come visit you?"_

_Marduk almost flinched. "Why would you want to do that?"_

_"I like you," Ina said with a sincere smile. "You're not like the others."_

_"Interesting," Marduk said. He smiled kindly at her. "Just make sure not to tell anyone I'm here, okay?"_

_"Why?," Ina asked._

_"It's just something I'd like to keep hidden for now, if you don't mind," Marduk said._

_"Sure, no problem," Ina said._

_And so started Ina's visits to Marduk's cave. She'd come late in the afternoon, or at night, so as to avoid passerby. They'd talk about everything; sports, music, politics (which bored Ina). Sometimes they'd just look at the sea, taking in its 'peace', as Marduk said._

_"Is that silver?," Marduk asked, pointing at the necklace around Ina's neck._

_"Oh, this?," Ina asked. "Yeah, it's silver. I don't like it though. Why, do you?"_

_"It's my favorite of all metals," Marduk said._

_"Is it?," Ina said. She took off her necklace and gave it to Marduk. "Here, you have it."_

_"Are you sure?," Marduk asked, taking the necklace._

_"Yeah," she said. "Take it as a token of our friendship."_

_Marduk smiled with such sincerity it melted her heart._

_"Thank you, Ina," he said. _

_Ina scratched her throat. "Yeah, whatever. I should go."_

_"Okay," Marduk said. _

_"See you tomorrow," Ina said, and left the cave._

_Marduk looked at the necklace and smiled. "This is what I want to fight for," he said._

_Ina went to her room and pulled out all the necklaces she had from her drawers and piled them on her bed. It was quite a large pile._

_"When is dad going to understand I don't like silver?," she asked herself, scratching the top of her head. Most of these necklaces were never worn. "Oh well," she said. "At least now they're useful." She put them all in a backpack and went to bed._

_She went back the next day, in the afternoon. She entered the cave and found Marduk sitting against the wall, apparently in deep thought._

_"Hey Marduk," she greeted. _

_"Hello Ina," Marduk said._

_"I brought you something," Ina said, and showed him all the necklaces she had brought. _

_"Wow," Marduk said. "Thank you Ina."_

_"Yeah, well, I don't really want them," Ina said._

_"I can't very well wear all these," Marduk said._

_"Good," Ina said. "I think you'd look weird wearing women's necklaces."_

_"I guess I would," Marduk said. He stood up and jumped into the water._

_"What the hell?," Ina asked. _

_Ten minutes later Marduk came out of the water, his left hand closed around something._

_"What's that?," Ina asked._

_"That's a secret," Marduk said with a coy smile. "I'll show it to you tomorrow."_

_"Hey!," Ina said annoyed._

_"I mean it," Marduk said._

_"Well, fine!," she said. "I'll see you tomorrow!" She left in a huff._

_Marduk chuckled._

_Ina came back the next day. She was surprised to find Marduk wearing a silver faceplate that covered the lower-half of his face._

_"Where'd you get that?," she asked._

_"I smelted all your necklaces and made it into a mask," Marduk said. "I find it to be more… stylish, don't you?"_

_"Yeah, I guess," Ina said. "So, what was it that you wanted to show me now that you couldn't show me yesterday?"_

_"Oh, of course," he said. He went to a large rock in the cavern and pushed, revealing a small orifice. He took out a string._

_"I wanted to make sure it was ready before you came back," he said. He gave it to Ina. "It's my sign of our friendship."_

_Ina gasped as she took it. There was a single pearl on the string. A real pearl._

_"These are so rare nowadays," she said. "How did you find it?"_

_"There are more oysters than people seem to think," Marduk said. "They were not driven into extinction. They were simply driven deeper into the sea."_

_"Thanks Marduk," Ina said, putting the necklace around her neck. A perfect fit. "Wow," she said._

_"Don't stop being who you are Ina," Marduk said, patting her on the shoulder. "You're a good person."_

_"Thanks Marduk," Ina said again. She hugged him. "You're a great friend."_

_Marduk smiled sadly under his mask._

_The other day Ina went into the cave again, but found to her surprise that Marduk wasn't inside. _

_"What the hell?," she asked. It wasn't like Marduk to not be in that cave. _

_Then she heard an explosion that rocked the cave. It came from the city._

_"What's happening?," she asked. She ran back up._

_What she saw horrified her._

_The entire city was burning. It seemed like a nightmare. There were people and reploids littered on the streets. The cars were burning, and some of them seemed to have been cut to pieces. _

_But how?!, she wondered. Everything was okay just a few minutes ago! _

_She ran down the streets in a panic, running to her house._

_When she arrived she found her house was gone._

_"Oh god," she said in horror. Her entire family was lying on the street. They were all dead, they all had slash marks. His father was cut in two, and the other half of his face wasn't far from where the house once was. Even her friends were there, all dead, all lying on a pool of their own blood._

_And Marduk was there, fighting a reploid. He had a pair of large claws coming out of both his hands. He cut down the reploid. He turned around and saw Ina. His face was expressionless, partly because of his mask._

_"Marduk!," she screamed. "What's going on?! What's happening?!"_

_Maruk suddenly charged at her. He slashed off her right arm. Ina screamed in pain and fell on the ground. Blood was coming out of her arm in large quantities._

_"M… Marduk," she said. She looked at her dead relatives and friends. Tears of anger went down her face. The pain vanished that instant._

_"Marduk!," she screamed furiously._

"I swore to never trust another reploid after that," Ina said. "I got this arm and joined the Maverick Hunters in the hopes of getting back at him." She looked at Alia squarely in the eyes. "Happy now?"

They stopped in front of the infirmary.

"I'm sorry," Alia said.

"For what?," Ina asked. "It's not like it's your fault anyway."

"Ina, X isn't like that," Alia said.

"Huh?," Ina asked.

"X really cares for people," Alia said. "He cares for everyone; human, reploid, or even animal. It doesn't make any difference to him."

"I believed the same thing about Marduk," Ina said. "But they're all the same in the end. They all live a lie."

"You're wrong!," Alia said. "X isn't like that! It's true that X might seem to worry too much, but that just proves how sincere he is! He doesn't even know how to lie!"

Ina was rather surprised by Alia's sudden reaction.

"Just what the hell makes X so special anyway?!," she asked, now completely changing the subject. "What is it that everyone sees in him?!"

"X is different," Alia said. "I don't know how to explain it, but… he just is. He is a reploid who truly cares." She put her hands together on her chest. "He taught us how to care."

"What?," Ina asked. Something about these last words hit her hard.

"He doesn't want to fight, but he still does," Alia said. "Every battle is like a sacrifice for X. He's always suffering, for everyone, both friend and foe. Why can't you see that?"

Ina was suddenly shaking.

"Are you okay?," Alia asked.

Ina willed herself to stop shaking.

"Y-yeah," she said.

"Well, let's go in," Alia said. The door opened and she went in. Ina heard her scream.

"Alia!," Ina said alarmed and ran inside.

She slipped and fell on the floor.

"What the hell?," she asked. She looked at her hand and realized it was smeared with dark red liquid.

"Blood oil?!," she asked. She looked up and gasped in horror.

Alia was standing beside her, her hands on her mouth, her eyes wide with terror.

The entire infirmary was covered in blood oil. Dead reploids, even some who were still in stand-by, littered the room. Some were killed on their beds. They had holes on their stomachs, which suggested they were stabbed. The rest were slashed or shot brutally. And Nightwolf was standing snugly against the wall with his arms crossed, looking at the new arrivals.

"Ah, so it's her," he said. "Not bad, Ina. Good job."

"What?," Alia asked. She looked at Ina. "What's he talking about?"

"What the hell were you thinking?!," Ina asked furiously.

"Well, I had to keep them quiet," he said. He chuckled malevolently. "Besides, I was bored."

"You bastard!," Ina said angrily.

"Now, to leave you on the clear," he said. He took out his staff. A laser blade came out of the side of the top end. He charged Ina and slashed her at the stomach. She fell down on her face. Her blood mixed with the blood oil.

"And now for you," Nightwolf said. He turned to face Alia, and had just enough time to see something red and round, like a fire extinguisher, smack him in the face.

Alia ran to the end of the infirmary and punched down on a red emergency button. The alarm ran, alerting the entire base to the danger. She noticed that blood oil was dripping down from the ceiling. Some had fallen on her hand. She looked up and screamed. It was Douglas. He had been stuck up there with power tools.

"Douglas!," Alia screamed. Nightwolf grabbed her head from behind her.

"You've got spunk, kid," he said. He slammed her face against the wall with such force he knocked her out. "Too bad I don't appreciate it." He placed her on his right shoulder. At that moment, X and Axl entered the infirmary, along with other Maverick Hunters.

"Ina!," X said when he saw her on the ground. He kneeled and turned her over. She was covered in blood.

"… X," Ina said weakly.

"Damn you!," X said angrily, looking up at Nightwolf. "Who are you?!"

"I wouldn't get so worked up over her, X," Nightwolf said. "She isn't worth it."

"That voice," X whispered alarmed. "It can't be…"

"I have your precious navigator," Nightwolf said, pointing at Alia. "You want her, you come after me." His left eye began to glow red. "Don't disappoint me. " He beamed out of the HQ. But before he did, he said "By the way, my name is Nightwolf." He left.

"Do we have any jammers at all?!," Axl asked angrily.

X picked up Ina. "Hold on Ina!," he said desperately. He dashed out of the infirmary and dashed towards the human infirmary, one made specifically for her.

"X…," Ina said. "No… it's my fault."

"What?," X asked as he continued dashing.

Tears welled up in Ina's eyes.

"I… brought that monster… here…," Ina said. "I… wanted him to… kill you."

X remained quiet.

"Please…," Ina said. "Just… let me… die."

"No," X said.

"What?," Ina asked. "But… why?"

"What's done is done," X said. "And I'm not letting a fellow Hunter die like this."

Ina looked up at X's face. Tears fell down her eyes.

"But… I hate… you," she said. "I… hate all… of you… reploids. W-why… do you… want to help me?"

"Because no matter what you think, we don't look down on you," X said. He looked at her. "I don't look down on you."

Ina was too weak too gasp, but she was surprised. Guilt invaded her.

"I'm… sorry… X," she sobbed weakly. "I'm… so… sorry."

"Hold on, Ina!," X said.

They finally made it to the infirmary. X gave her to the surgeons, and they asked him to wait outside.

"X…," Ina said.

"Don't die," X said.

X ran back to the bridge.

"Well?," X asked. "Where is he?"

"He's gone to an old Repleforce base in the desert," Signas said. "We're not sure if he's alone."

"Commander, we're receiving a hailing signal!," said Lair. "It's Nightwolf!"

"Let's hear what he has to say," said Signas. Suddenly Nightwolf's face appeared onscreen. His red eye was glowing brightly.

"What have you done with Alia?," X asked.

"Nothing," Nightwolf said. He added evilly, "Yet."

"Bastard," Axl said.

"If you want to see her alive, come alone," said Nightwolf. "And don't think I'll make it simple for you. I've placed a jammer that's surrounded the entire base, so you can't just beam in here. You'll have to use the front gate."

"What is it that you want?," X asked.

"You'll find out soon enough," said Nightwolf. "Although it should be obvious at this point. Now come and get me, Maverick Hunter X!" The video feed ended.

"Nightwolf," Signas said. "He's a Repleforce assassin."

"What?!," Axl asked. This news surprised everyone in the bridge.

"He is the best killer they've got," Signas said. He made a face. "He's also the sickest. There have been more collateral damage cases with him than with any other. The places he's left behind after every mission look like battlefields."

"But why would Repleforce send their assassin after X?," Lair asked. "That doesn't make any sense!"

"He might've turned Maverick," Axl said. "That's always a possibility."

"Maybe," Signas said. "But it's doubtful. Nightwolf undergoes rigorous maintenance checks on a weekly basis, more so than any reploid. They would have found something if he was really turning Maverick."

"It's obviously a trap, too," he continued. "Going in through the front gate? He's planning something."

"It doesn't matter," X said.

"X?," Signas asked.

"You heard him, didn't you?," X asked. "He'll kill Alia if I don't go."

"X," Axl said.

"Very well then," Signas said. "We'll try to communicate with Repleforce and see what's happened. Rexford happens to be an old friend of mine. He might bring some light to what's going on."

"Right," X said.

"Be careful, X," Axl said.

"I will," X said, and ran out of the bridge and down the hall.

_Hold on, Alia!, _he thought. _I'm coming!_

Unbeknownst to anyone, however, Repleforce had already launched its own investigation on the State. Something was far too suspicious, and no matter what the humans ordered, no reploid in the Repleforce was going to allow X to be attacked without at least knowing what's going on.

"This is all too strange," said the General, looking out his office window. He gritted his teeth. "Not one bit of this makes sense! What the hell is going on?!"

**Space Colony 0-5**

"What was that idiot thinking?!," Strikewind asked furiously. "That psychopath will ruin everything! We have to stop Nightwolf!"

"No," Marduk said calmly.

"What?!," Strikewind asked. "Why not?!"

"This is actually better than I had hoped," Marduk said. "This will buy us some much needed time, and besides, it will be interesting to see how X will handle this."

"I don't know," said Strikewind. "It's all too risky."

"With every action must come a risk, Strikewind," Marduk said. "For now, we will observe."

Strikewind nodded, although he still looked worried.

"I hope you know what you're doing," he said, voicing his concerns. "We've come too far to screw up now."

"I know," Marduk said. "But don't worry. X is very strong. He'll be able to handle it." He gazed calmly into the screen. _Won't you, X_?

X stood in front of the large gates of the base. A small door opened on its own on the wall. X ran inside.

_Just a little longer, Alia, _he thought. _Wait just a little longer._


	8. Vile's Shadow

**CHAPTER 7**

**Vile's Shadow**

X ran down the abandoned repleforce base at full speed. He was amazed that there was still electricity running in this base, although he was sure that Nightwolf must have had something to do with this.

_Nightwolf, _he thought.

There was something about him that made X's skin crawl. A familiar dislike that X had experienced before, something that brought a bad taste to his mouth despite himself. He knew of who Nightwolf reminded him, but it couldn't be. He was dead.

He made sure of it.

He turned another on another hall, following the instructions that Nightwolf had left at the entrance. Suddenly, three soldier reploids appeared and fired at X. X had nowhere to hide, so he dashed forward and fired. He killed all three of them. He looked at their dead bodies with worry.

"Repleforce?," X asked. "So they really are trying to kill me?"

"_Of course we are, you idiot,_" said Nightwolf's voice from an intercom. "_Did you think I went Maverick_?"

"But why would Repleforce want to kill me?," X asked.

"I don't know," Nightwolf said. "Ask your precious State. They gave the order."

"What?," X asked.

"You're running out of time, X," Nightwolf said malevolently. "You wait anymore and I'll get bored. Then who knows what may happen."

"Nightwolf," X said, shaking with anger. He continued running.

He ran past some more hallways and even more resistance, all the while Nightwolf was taunting him with profanities and memories.

"So, tell me X, how is it that someone like you, who preaches so much about peace, end up being such a ruthless killer?"

"What does that have to do with anything?!," X asked. He fired a charged up shot and killed off the remaining soldier reploids.

"Oh, but it has a lot do with you, X," said Nightwolf sneeringly. "For you see, I believe that you enjoy killing as much as I do."

"Shut up!," X shouted furiously. "I'm nothing like you!"

"Oh, you're not, are you?," asked Nightwolf. X heard him chuckle. "Why don't you take a look around you?"

X did, and gasped. He had killed every single soldier reploid that had been fighting him. Most of them were dismembered beyond recognition.

"Sometimes I wonder, X," Nighwolf said as X remained in horrified silence. "Have you ever bothered to take a look around your mission areas after you've accomplished your objectives? Because I know that you must have killed hundreds of reploids in your missions. Haven't you ever bothered to stop and take in what you've done?"

X flinched.

"Of course," Nightwolf said. "You're always too naïve, X, and even worse, you're a filthy hypocrite."

"I'm no hypocrite!," X shouted, although it sounded more like a strangled cry. "I'm nothing like you, Nightwolf!"

"Oh, really?," asked Nightwolf. "Then why didn't you ask these soldiers to surrender? They would have, you know, especially since they knew who you were."

"What?," X asked. He gasped. "Nightwolf, you--!"

"I gave them strict orders to surrender if you were to ask them to stop fighting," Nightwolf said. "I wanted to test your so-called ideals."

X was horrified. "You sacrificed them… to prove a point?!"

"To successfully prove a point," Nightwolf said. "Admit it, X. You enjoy the slaughter as much as I do. You enjoy to watch your enemies squirm and beg just before that last shot, that shot that will send them screaming into the afterlife."

"No," X said weakly. "You're… wrong."

"There's no need to be ashamed of it," Nightwolf said. "After all, killing is one of the few pleasures we reploids can truly enjoy. To see your enemies blow up in front of you, to realize that you are practically untouchable! To destroy entire structures and be praised for it! To take lives and be patted on the back because of it! It's the closest thing we have to getting high!"

"No," X said. He grabbed his head. "You're lying."

"Am I?," he asked. "You should know about all this more than I, X! You, who have killed countless numbers of reploids, using the excuse that you don't want to fight, that all you want is peace, just so that people would start feeling sorry for you, for the 'sad hero', just because you can't stand the thought of people looking at you for what you are! A killer! A master of death and destruction! The champion of humanity, the slayer of reploids! " He laughed. "Maybe I should have used that excuse! I'd like it if someone patted me on the back for blowing off someone's head!"

"Shut up!," X shouted. He charged his buster to full. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

He fired, blowing off an entire segment of the hall. He had opened his way into the chamber, where Nightwolf was. He was sitting on a chair in front of a console. It had multiple screens that showed various areas of the base. He had a microphone in hand.

"Well," Nightwolf said. "That was unexpected."

X screamed out in anger and charged Nightwolf. Nightwolf moved from his chair. X punched right through the chair. He fired at Nightwolf repeatedly, and Nightwolf was struggling to keep his footing. X charged again, swinging his left fist at Nightwolf. Nightwolf grabbed his fist.

"That's it," he said, his left eye glowing brightly. "Hate me, X! Hate me!" He forced X's fist down. "You want to kill me, don't you?!" His left eye glowed brightly. "Give in to it, X! Give in to your hatred! Give in to that killer instinct all reploids have!"

"Nightwolf!," X shouted in anger. He aimed his buster at Nightwolf's face and fired. Nightwolf moved his head sideways to dodge it. He hit X hard on the stomach with his knee, knocking him back. He pulled out his beam rifle and fired. X dodged the shots and fired back.

Ina opened her eyes and got up from her bed. A reploid nurse noticed this and walked towards her.

"Please, Lieutenant Ina, you must rest," she said.

"My launcher," Ina said. "Where's my launcher?"

"It's right over there," said the nurse, pointing helpfully to a chair beside Ina. "But I must insist…"

Ina ignored her, getting off her bed and grabbing her launcher.

"Where are my clothes?," she asked.

"They're over at the laundry, of course," said the nurse. Ina left without another word.

The shootout had gone on for quite a while now, and the firepower used had been such that both X and Nightwolf now had cover, thanks to the rubble littered around the chamber.

"Well, X," Nightwolf said. "It looks like you're better than even I thought."

"Shut up!," X spat, and fired a fully charged shot in Nightwolf's direction. The shot destroyed Nightwolf's cover, and X was shocked to see that Nightwolf wasn't there.

"You missed," Nightwolf said from behind him.

X turned, but too late. Nightwolf had swung down his laser pole axe at X, grazing his chest. The wound was deep enough to make X stagger back.

"Come on, X," Nightwolf said, his eye glowing. "This isn't how I remember it! Fight me like before!" He charged, thrusting his weapon forward. X grabbed it and tossed Nightwolf into the air. He fired. Nightwolf spun around to dodge the shots in midair, then pulled out his beam rifle and fired back. X jumped back to avoid it. Nightwolf landed in front of X on one knee. He aimed his rifle up at X's face, and X aimed his buster at Nightwolf's face.

"That was a weak move, X," Nightwolf said. "You've gotten sloppy after all these years."

"It's you, isn't it?," X asked, now certain of who this guy really was. "Vile!"

Nightwolf laughed. His eye brightened. "If only it were that simple, X," he said. "I think it'd make both our lives much easier, wouldn't you say?"

"What?," X asked, perturbed.

Nightwolf took the chance and knocked X's buster out of the way. He swung his pole axe at X. X was hit with the metal part and sent sliding on the ground.

"What did you mean?," X asked as he stood up. "Are you telling me that you're not Vile?"

Nightwolf laughed again. "I can't say," he said. "In a way, I'm not, and yet in another, I am."

"I don't understand," X said.

"My base model came from Vile," Nightwolf said. "So you could say that I'm Vile's illegitimate son."

"What?," X asked. "His son?"

"In a way," Nightwolf said. "Add to that the fact that I have Vile's memories, and you can see where I'm going."

"But why would anyone build a reploid after Vile?," X asked

"Why wouldn't they?," Nightwolf asked.

"What do you mean?," X asked.

"I have Vile's memories," Nightwolf said. "And from what I remembered, I ascertained that Vile was perhaps one of the strongest reploids in existence, more than capable of going head-to-head with the best Maverick Hunters, including you." He paused, letting X take in what he was saying. He continued. "Undoubtedly they thought he'd be useful if they recreated him to serve the humans, thus came me."

"But if you were created on Vile's specs," X said. "And you have his memories, then wouldn't that make you Vile?"

Nightwolf chuckled. "Oh, I see," he said. "So if I, say, were to place Rockman's memories in you, would that make you Rockman?"

X remained silent.

"Precisely," Nightwolf said. "I might have his memories, but I wasn't about to let that influence all my decisions. I'm Nightwolf, first and foremost."

"You said you didn't allow to him to influence most of your choices," X said. "What choices did you let him influence?"

"Quite a few," Nightwolf said. "Especially on the ones I personally agreed with. Such as his hatred towards humans. I for one can understand such contempt and hatred towards such an inferior species. They hide in their little offices and homes, plotting against each other while using us as tools for control. They judge others by their appearance or their history. A weak and pathetic species."

"But the one thing that I truly allowed to influence me is his obsession over you, X," said Nightwolf. His eye seemed to glow even more from the excitement. "You have absolutely no idea how passionately he hated you, how much he wanted to end you, and the legacy you possess."

"My legacy?," X asked.

"Yes X," Nightwolf said. He actually sounded rather somber. "This is another curse you and I possess. We are both altered versions of our pasts, and we are hated for it. Our very existence reminds the world of what once was; to Mavericks, you represent the blind reploid that fought for humans to the bitter end. As for me, I represent that thorn on the world's side that refused to submit." He pointed at X with his pole axe. "But I don't want that. I don't want to be seen as Vile's shadow. I want to be recognized as Nightwolf! I want to have my own name!" He got into his fighting stance. "That's why his obsession over you is so important to me, X."

"What?," X asked.

"If I destroy you," Nightwolf said. "If I destroy the legend you represent, I'll finally be free of him. I'll no longer live under his shadow. I'll finally be Nightwolf!" He charged X. "I'll finally have my name back!"

_He wants to kill me, _X thought sadly. _Just so the world can recognize him. He wants to have his own identity. He doesn't want to have anything to do with his ancestor. _X looked at his hands. _Do I_?

"You're mine!," Nightwolf yelled, and swung his pole axe down. X raised his arms and blocked him. Nightwolf realized he had transformed. His armor was black and thicker. "Your copy ability?!"

X grabbed Nightwolf's face and slammed him to the ground. He raised his foot and sent it down at him. Nightwolf rolled out of the way to avoid X's stomp. He grabbed his beam rifle and fired. X materialized a disc in an instant and used it to shield himself. He then sent it after Nightwolf, who barely dodged it. The disc grazed his mask. He charged X and fired. X materialized a giant sphere and rolled it after Nightwolf. The shots bounced off the sphere.

"Damn!," he said. He jumped high into the air, and the sphere followed.

"What?!," he asked. He looked up and realized with alarm that the disc was flying down towards him.

"It's over," X said.

"The hell it is!," Nightwolf shouted. He took his pole axe, and with a loud battlecry, swung it around at both objects. They were cut in two. Nightwolf landed on the ground as the objects exploded.

"I won't die," Nightwolf said. "I won't die, not until I've finally rid of him!" He looked up at X. X gasped. Nightwolf's eye was now glowing like a flashlight. He let out a chilling scream.

"General!," said the aide.

"What is it?," asked the General, who was feeding his goldfishes.

"Here's some of the files we were able to acquire from the investigation," said the aide, handing over the documents to the General.

"Thank you," he said.

"Are you thinking of Nightwolf, sir?," asked the aide.

"No," said the General. "I won't have to worry about him."

"Are you sure, General?," asked the aide. "After all, in all respects, X is stronger."

"Perhaps," said the General with a smirk. "But Nightwolf has a trump card."

"Sir?"

"The Berserker Program," said the General. "A program installed in him by none other than Professor Mackwell. It's a program that enhances his strength in dire situations."

"At the cost of sanity?," asked the aide.

"No," said the General. "Mackwell has a reputation for exaggeration. The Berserker program has no negative side effects to it whatsoever. It just sounds dangerous."

"I see," said the aide.

"Mackwell," the General said, suddenly in deep thought. "Look for anything regarding Mackwell. And I mean anything!"

"Yes sir!," said the aide, confused but obedient. He left immediately.

"Mackwell," said the General, looking back at his tank of a dozen fish. "I wonder…"

Nightwolf charged X, swinging his poleaxe wildly but purposely. X blocked each attack with major effort. He punched back, but Nightwolf dodged his punch and cut him on the cheek. X grabbed Nightwolf's left arm, raised him up and punched him on the back. Nightwolf recovered, flipping back and kicking X on the neck, sending him back to the ground. He grabbed a weakened X by the neck and kneed him hard on the stomach. He finally threw him against the ground. X transformed back to normal.

"How weak," Nightwolf said. "How disappointing." He lifted X's head and looked at him squarely in the eyes. "This is what Vile wanted to kill so badly? Please." He let go of X and walked towards the northern wall of the chamber, the only part of the whole chamber that wasn't damaged. "I'm going to do you a favor, X," he said, moving a part of the wall and revealing a small switch. "I'm going to show you Alia before you die."

X looked up weakly as the wall raised. He saw Alia and screamed in agony.

Alia's arms and legs had been torn off, and from the state of what was left of her limbs, violently. Her face was full of cuts. She was hanging from the wall by two electromagnetic chains. Her blood oil seeped down the wall to the floor, making a small puddle. She had been hanging there for some time. She lifted her head with amazing effort and saw X.

"X," she said with barely a whisper. "He…help… me." She let her head drop again.

"Breaks your heart, doesn't it?," Nightwolf said with mock emotion. "You have a rather common taste in women, X. I don't like the blonde types myself. Although she isn't really blonde now, is she?"

"What have you done to her?!," asked X horrified.

Nightwolf ignored X. He walked towards Alia and lifted her head. He put his head next to hers, looking at X.

"I said I'd keep her alive, not in one piece," said Nightwolf coldly. "She was quite the stubborn one," he continued. "Although after I used my," he chuckled malevolently, "legendary charms on her, she was very willing to spill her secrets." He laughed evilly.

"Nightwolf!," X shouted furiously.

"She told me all sorts of things," Nightwolf continued. "From your many weaknesses to her petty feelings. Those were the boring parts." He laughed. "Ina definitely chose the perfect bait. I might actually have to thank her." He let go of Alia's head, which fell back down. He took out his beam rifle and aimed it at X's face. "Goodbye, X," he said. "Give my regards to Vile in hell."

"The only one who's going to hell," X said, shaking with anger. "Is you, Nightwolf!" He fired at Nightwolf with a fully charged shot.

"Not this again," Nightwolf said annoyed. He slashed at the energy and dissipated it. He gasped when he saw X suddenly in front of him.

"Holy crap," he said.

X landed an uppercut that sent Nightwolf into the air. X grabbed his leg before he went too high and slammed him on the ground repetitively, as if Nightwolf was suddenly nothing more than a rag doll. He threw Nightwolf a considerable distance. Nightwolf fell on the ground and rolled a few feet before finally stopping. He stood up shakily.

"What the hell was that?!," he asked confused. He looked up and watched X transform.

"You think that's going to work again?!," Nightwolf asked.

X's armor turned into a dark purple. His shoulders grew sharp and went back.

"Another form?," asked Nightwolf.

X slammed his fists together, and two more Xs suddenly appeared. Then they repeated the process, and more came out, and more, and more, until the chamber filled with at least 50 Xs.

"What the hell?!," Nightwolf asked.

"Are you ready to die, Nightwolf?," X asked.

Suddenly a charged up shot came out of nowhere from behind Nightwolf. He dodged it and fired in the direction it came from, but only hit holograms.

"Damn!," Nightwolf said. The holograms all started to move, jumping and dashing around Nightwolf.

"X!," Nightwolf shouted. Another buster shot came from right in front of him. He fired at it with his beam rifle. The two shots connected and exploded.

"You'll never be anything more than Vile's shadow," X said.

"What was that?!," Nightwolf asked furiously, firing to his right. More holograms.

"Look at you," X said. "You said that you wanted to be above Vile, yet you're just like him. Like father like son, I guess."

"Shut up!," Nightwolf said, firing again at another hologram.

"You're pathetic," X said. "You go on your missions, hoping to be recognized for who you are, when you're not even being yourself."

"What do you know?!," Nightwolf asked, now livid. "You don't know how the rest of us reploids live! You, a pampered prince! Everyone recognizes you! Everyone loves you! You, when you do the same things we do! We've sacrificed as much as you have, we've killed as much as you have, and yet we're the ones treated like dirt!" Flashbacks came to him, flashbacks of lost comrades. "When we cause collateral damage, we have to face the consequences, and when you do the same, they simply say they can repair it! All because you are the next Rockman!"

More flashbacks. More flashbacks of people staring at him coldly, of turning their backs to him, gazing at him as though he were some virus.

"And when people look at me, all they see is Vile! All they want to see is Vile! The cold-hearted bastard that terrorized this planet for Sigma! That's all people see of me! And that's one thing I don't want! I want to be known as Nightwolf!"

"It's like listening to a broken record," X said, so close behind Nightwolf he could have reached out and touched him. "You're more pathetic than I am."

"Bastard!," Nightwolf shouted. He turned around, swinging his pole axe, but only hit more holograms. "Where are you, X?!," he shouted furiously, now firing wildly at every hologram. "Come out and face me, you coward!" Pebbles suddenly fell on his shoulder. He looked up in alarm and saw X fall down towards him, his buster trained on him, charged to max.

_How the hell did he get up there_?!, he thought in shock. Then something chilling happened, something that made Nightwolf gasp in horror. X suddenly morphed in Nightwolf's eye. His buster suddenly turned into a shoulder cannon, and his face suddenly vanished, replaced by a helmet that suggested there wasn't a proper face under there. A leering red eye glared at Nightwolf.

"No," Nightwolf said, shaking his head. Panic filled within him. "No!" He aimed his beam rifle at Vile and fired desperately. His delusion seemed to increase with each shot. "I won't be your shadow! I'll never be your shadow!" Each shot missed terribly. "Die, die, die!"

X fired, hitting Nightwolf squarely in the chest. Nightwolf was exceptionally strong, because the shot only cracked his armor (although it did make him drop his melted beam rifle). X fired various accurate shots at that crack, and eventually Nightwolf's resistance gave way. He dodged the last shot that would have undoubtedly been fatal with a staggering step to the side. He fell on his back. X landed in front of him. He aimed his buster at Nightwolf's face. Nightwolf sat up with effort.

"So, this it, huh?," Nightwolf asked. He chuckled. "Damn it."

X was silent, his buster still trained threateningly on Nightwolf's face.

"You want to know with what arm I tortured the bitch?," Nightwolf asked. He showed X his left arm. "This is my torture arm, or so I call it. Boy, could she scream."

X fired at Nightwolf's left shoulder joint, blowing off his arm completely. Nightwolf cursed out in pain.

"Touched a nerve, did I?," Nighwolf asked, chuckling.

"How could you?," X asked. He was shaking with anger. "How could do that to her?! She had nothing to do with this!"

"It's always the innocent ones that pay, X," Nighwolf said, so seriously and somberly it surprised X.

"What?," X asked.

"Look at us, X," Nightwolf said. "Look at what the humans have turned us into. Look at yourself. You hate killing, and yet you're one thought away from blowing my face off. We don't matter to the humans. We're all expendable, we're all just a… number."

"Nightwolf?," X asked.

"I don't regret anything that I've done," Nightwolf said. "The only thing I do regret, though, is not asking the General whether I could kill those bastard humans that control the State." He sighed. "They're the ones that turned us reploids into killing machines, when we could be so much better." He looked down at the ground.

"We were built in their image, and so if we're violent, then so were they. We're their justification for war. Tired of blooding their own hands, they made us to do the killing for them. It's the one cold truth of a reploid."

He looked up at X. "Except you," he said. "For some reason, you're different from the rest of us. You even cry like they do." He shook his head. "You're an... enigma, X." His fist began to shake, and he angrily punched the ground. "Why?! Why are you so different?! What makes you so special?!"

"What?"

"You, you, you!," said Nightwolf angrily. "I despise you, X! You're always so naïve, always so innocent! You kill your enemies and then cry for them! You worry about every freaking leaf around you! You forgive the very humans that exploit you! YOU! When you have the power to turn against them! Yet you squander this power and insist on helping the 'weak' humans!" He pointed at X. "That's my reason to kill you. Not Vile's. Mine! Anyone who has the power to defy the humans and not use it deserves to die."

"Nightwolf," said X.

They heard footsteps approach. They saw Ina enter the chamber, gasping for breath.

"It's abandoned and it still has a maze program!," she said furiously, referring to the base.

She looked at them, then at Alia.

"Damn! Alia!," she said. She looked at Nightwolf with fury. "You did this?!"

Nightwolf laughed. "It just keeps getting better!," he said amused. "You even spared her, and she betrayed you!"

Ina ran towards Alia and checked her.

"She's still alive, X!," Ina said.

"She's alive," X repeated.

"We reploids are built for war," said Nightwolf. "We have no other purpose in life. It's all we can truly do, it's the only thing we can truly hold on to."

"X?," Ina asked.

X lowered his buster. "No," he said.

"What?," Nightwolf asked. "You'll spare me after hearing me talk? You understand that I don't regret anything that I've done? If I walk out of this building alive, I will hunt you down. I'll make your every waking moment the worst you've ever felt. Do you understand? Letting me live means killing yourself."

"I know," X said. "But you also said that I'm nothing like you. And you're right. If I kill you now, I'll just be like you, and I don't want that." He walked towards Alia. He wrapped his left arm around her waist and shot off the shackles. He turned to face Nightwolf.

"And maybe I was wrong about you too," X said.

"Oh really?," Nightwolf asked.

"I don't know what anyone else thinks about you," X said. "But you at least proved to me that you aren't Vile. Whatever anyone says, I'll always recognize you for who you are… Nightwolf." He and Ina beamed out of the chamber.

Nightwolf laughed. His armor regenerated.

"He's really naïve, isn't he?," asked the General's voice on his headset.

"Yeah," Nightwolf said, standing up and putting away his weapons. "But I think I'm beginning understand what is it that people find so appealing about him."

"Are you coming back?," asked the General.

"Yes, but I won't beam back," he said. "It'd be too suspicious if I beamed back and X was still alive."

"But it'll take you three days to get here on foot," said the General.

"So?," Nightwolf asked. "I could use the walk."

He grabbed his left arm and scoffed.

"What is it?," asked the General.

"He totaled my arm," Nightwolf said, tossing away the useless limb. "I think he was really going to kill me."

"After what you've done, even I would have killed you," said the General. "You went too far in provoking him."

"I wanted to see what he was made of," Nightwolf said. "Besides, you told me to fight him for real and not destroy him."

"He almost destroyed **you**," said the General. "I'm amazed you were able to hold back throughout the whole battle."

"You know me," Nightwolf said.

"Yes, and that's why I'm so surprised."

"Don't you have an investigation to lead?," asked Nightwolf, now annoyed.

"Fine," said the General. Nightwolf could almost feel him smiling. "Just make sure to get here as whole as possible."

"Right," Nightwolf said. "Nightwolf out."

He walked out of the base and into the desert. As he walked, he thought with strange amusement at what the general had said.

_Hold back_?, Nightwolf thought. _I hit that kid with everything I had, and he still overpowered me. _He also thought of what X had said, of him recognizing Nightwolf for who he was. Not even the General had showed him such kindness. And after everything he had done to provoke X, his words left him very confused. _That X is really an interesting fellow, _Nightwolf thought. And strangely, he felt some of the weight of Vile's shadow come off, as if X had helped him with that burden. _Now I understand why you wanted to kill him, Vile, _he thought amused. _That reploid is an amazing threat to reploids like us, isn't he_? _He's the kind that could make hopeless killers like us turn over a new leaf_. _It really is something to be afraid of._

**Space colony 0-5**

"It seems X has a new follower," said Strikewind.

"Excellent," Marduk said. He was really happy. "This proves without a doubt that X is the beacon that will lead all reploids, and from the looks of it, humans to our new future."

"I must admit, I was rather doubtful of this test," Strikewind said. "But now I know I had nothing to fear."

Marduk couldn't contain a chuckle. "This is all going so well," he said happily. "We're finally making rapid progress with Zero, and X has already started amassing his followers without knowing it. It will start soon, very soon. Now all we need is the final key."

"Trax has already delivered the device," Strikewind said. "He's returning to one of our bases in the desert."

"Good," Marduk said. "With this final plan, our dreams will come true." He sighed somberly. "Wreck, Violet, Swordsman, your deaths will not be in vain. I swear it." He suddenly realized someone missing. "Where's Lina?," he asked.

"She went to collect the data from Zero," Strikewind said. "Marduk, about Lina…"

"What is it?," Marduk asked. He sounded calm, but Strikewind didn't miss that hint of anger in Marduk's voice. He knew it was a risk, but had to try anyway.

"I've noticed that she's been spending a lot of time in front of that tank," Strikewind said. "And always with a strange expression in her face. Almost like, regret. I'm afraid she may be starting to have doubts."

Marduk didn't look at Strikewind. His expression was quite fathomless.

"Marduk, please," Strikewind pleaded. "Let me launch an investigation on her. We won't even touch her, but we must be certain."

"No," Marduk said.

"But--"

"I said no, Strikewind," Marduk said, this time making no effort to hide his annoyance. "Lina has been in this since the start. She won't betray us now."

"I wish I were that confident," Strikewind said.

"It's enough that I am," Marduk said. "Please leave."

Strikewind didn't move for a moment, but then consented and left. Marduk stood up from his chair and jumped up to the catwalk. He looked up at Earth.

"She won't betray us," Marduk repeated to himself, as if he needed the assurance.

Perhaps he did.

Lina was collecting the data on Zero. She stopped for a moment and looked at him. Every time she looked into his face she's reminded of all the people Marduk had killed and sacrificed. The cost had been extremely high just to capture him. And the final part of his plan was even worse.

_Hadn't we put these people through enough already_?, she thought. She shook her head. _No, I won't betray Master Marduk. Not now of all times. After all, I'm responsible for some of those deaths too. _And with this she went back to work, trying to ignore the red reploid inside the tank. The reploid that seemed to symbolize all of the sacrifices Marduk had made.


	9. Rexford's Last Stand

**CHAPTER 8**

**Rexford's Last Stand**

_"W-where am I?," asked Zero. He was standing in a completely dark place. There was nothing. He seemed to be standing on nothing. He suddenly heard someone laugh. _

_"Who's there?," he asked, looking around. Nothing. Nothing but darkness._

_"What a wimp," said the voice._

_"Who is it?," Zero asked. "Show yourself!"_

_Suddenly a figure appeared in front of him. Zero gasped. It was Black Zero, his exact replica, except of course, black._

_"You!," Zero said. _

_"Yes," said his alter ego. "Me."_

_"What are you doing here?!," Zero asked. "Where are we?!"_

_"We're in your mind, Zero," said Black. "Or, my mind, actually."_

_"You're mind?," Zero asked. _

_"That's right," said Black. "I'm the real Zero."_

_"You?"_

_"You came out of nowhere and stole my body," said Black. "I want it back."_

_"I don't know what you're talking about!," Zero said._

_"Give me back my body!," said Black. He charged Zero. Zero fired with his buster. Black dodged it and reached for Zero's face. A barrier of light suddenly blocked out Black._

_"What?," Black asked. Then he grinned, understanding. "Fine," he said. He began to disappear. "I will have my body back, Zero."_

_"Wait!," Zero said, but Black was already gone. "What was that?! And where the hell am I?!"_

"Subject has stabilized," said a reploid researcher.

"Good," Lina said. She sighed in relief. "That was close."

"What just happened?," asked another researcher.

"Well, if he's data is correct, I'd say that was the Zero-virus," Lina said.

"No," said the human, who was sitting on a chair in a shadowy corner. "That was no virus."

"Then what was it?," Lina asked. She added, "Professor?"

The human stood up and stepped in front of the tank, looking up at Zero. Mackwell smiled his sardonic smile.

"Can't say for sure," he said. "But if I had to guess, I'd say our friend here has a personality problem."

"Dual personality?," Lina asked. "Is that even possible on a reploid?"

"If a reploid were to suddenly reject their original programming, they mess up their software almost beyond repair." He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose in a scholarly gesture. "It's what turns most reploids Mavericks. A sudden surge of free will that they can't understand. It leads to confusion, and sometimes violence. At other times, they decide to choose a leader and let him control them." He looked at Lina with a toothy smile. "It's the one true explanation for the Sigma-virus."

"But what about Zero?," Lina asked. "I fail to see how this involves him. He didn't choose to betray anyone, nor did he follow any Maverick."

"Zero is a special exception," Mackwell said. "No surprise. It's clear that his will was much stronger, enabling him to split his programming, leaving only what he deems fit while sending the rest to some unknown part of his mainframe. Put philosophically, you could say that he sealed away a part of his soul. "

"But why would he do that?," Lina asked. "Why would he want to stop being himself?"

Mackwell shrugged. "Who knows? I sure don't."

He walked out of the laboratory. Mary was waiting in the hallway. She followed him.

"Well?," asked Mackwell.

"They've been very stubborn," Mary said. "At this rate, Repleforce will have discovered everything within 72 hours."

"Hmm," Mackwell said. He shook his head with a sigh. "So annoying. And everything was going so smoothly, too."

"What do we do?," Mary asked. "It will be dangerous if Marduk were to discover those files."

"It's just as dangerous if you talk about it here," reprimanded Mackwell.

"Sorry," Mary said ruefully.

"Don't be," Mackwell said. "What do we do, you ask? We stop them, as a matter of course. We can't afford any risks now, not when we're so close."

"I'll alert the troops," Mary said.

"Make sure to dress them up properly," Mackwell said. "After all, a little more chaos could help hide us for awhile."

"Right," Mary said.

"And make sure to send one of the R.L.F. bosses," said Mackwell. "I want to make this as realistic as possible."

"That might prove difficult," said Mary worriedly. "The bosses listen to no one but Marduk."

"Oh, that won't be a problem," said Mackwell. He grinned. "After all, I know a particular boss who's been itching for a fight, and suspicious orders won't make a difference."

It's been two days since Nightwolf had started walking down the desert. It wasn't a problem for him, but even so he was starting to feel bored. He had always hated the dry scenery the desert presented, and he wanted to get to HQ as soon as possible to repair his arm.

He suddenly heard the revving of engines behind a sand dune that was in front of him. Nightwolf ran to the top of the sand dune and dropped flat on his stomach. He saw a small convoy of reploids; three dune buggies with five reploids each, and one strange reploid leading them; he didn't have legs, for starters. Instead, his torso was connected to a flat platform with tank tracks. His body was large and skeletal, golden and black. He had two missile pods with four small missiles each on his shoulders. He didn't have a face. Instead, his head had a single red lens that served as his eye. He had a pair of flat antennae ears. One of the dune buggies, the one behind the reploid, carried the banner of the R.L.F.

"This must be my lucky day," said Nightwolf. Something had just come up to end his boredom. And even better, one of them might have a compatible left arm he could use for a while.

He stood up and leered at the approaching convoy.

"Time to introduce myself," Nightwolf said.

"Patrol, patrol, how I love patrol!," sang Trax joyfully. He turned around on his torso and looked at the following soldiers. "Don't you just love it?! You can go as fast as you want without really having to do anything!"

"I don't know about that, Master Trax," said the reploid driving the lead buggy. "I for one would rather be in the front lines."

"Yeah, I guess you're right!," said Trax, turning around again and putting his hands on his head. "It's no fun when I can go fast but not shoot anything!"

"Master Trax, there's someone in front of us!," said the reploid.

"Hmm?," asked Trax. He stopped, and so did the buggies.

A lone reploid stood in front of them. He had a laser-bladed pole axe in his right hand. His left arm was missing.

"And who the hell are you?!," Trax asked.

"I'm the tooth fairy," said Nightwolf.

"The tooth fairy, eh?," said Trax. He laughed maniacally. "Sorry, I didn't bring my pillow!"

"What do you want?," asked one of the other reploids, who didn't seem to be amused. He and the others had their weapons drawn.

"As you can see, I'm missing an arm," Nightwolf said. "So I'd like you to make the small donation of yours."

The reploids were silent in disbelief.

"I wouldn't refuse if I were you," said Nightwolf. "I'm feeling awfully generous at the moment, undoubtedly because of what happened to me a few days ago. You'll get to keep your lives at the cost of a few simple arms. I'd think that's a great deal, don't you?"

"Who do you think you are?," asked the reploid angrily.

"My name's Nightwolf," responded the confident reploid. He pointed at them with his poleaxe. "And don't you forget it."

"We won't!," Trax shouted suddenly. "I'll remember to carve it in your tombstone! Fire!"

His soldiers all fired at Nightwolf. Nightwolf leaped into the air and fell straight for Trax. He swung his pole axe down. Trax raised his arms and blocked it. The impact was so strong the shockwave knocked the others off their feet.

Trax laughed maniacally. "Very good!," he said. "Very, very good!"

Nightwolf did a back flip in midair and swung his weapon up at Trax's face. Trax bent back and dodged it. He snapped forward like a sling-shot and struck Nightwolf with his head, sending him flying. Nightwolf stuck his poleaxe on the ground while he was on the air and got back on his feet.

He looked up and realized that Trax's entire platoon had jumped at him, their beam sabers drawn.

"You idiots call yourselves soldiers?!," Nightwolf asked in disdain. He charged back at them and slashed at them repetitively at high speeds. When he landed back on the ground, the reploids' left arms were cut off. They all stood up from the ground, in pain and angry.

"I got what I wanted," said Nightwolf. "Now leave. This is a one-time offer. Take it now or die."

"Y-you!," said one of the reploids angrily. They all charged at him again.

Nightwolf turned quickly and pierced the lead reploid's stomach with his poleaxe.

"Don't confuse kindness with weakness," said Nightwolf, his red left eye glowing. "You've just wasted you're last chance."

He tossed the dead reploid aside and cut down the others in moments. He turned and faced Trax, who had been observing everything while giggling madly.

"What about you?," Nightwolf asked. "I take it abandoning your men means you've decided to take the smart path?"

Trax burst out laughing. "Great! Great! Great! This is why I love patrol! You never know what you're going to find!" He crossed his arms and bent forward. His back opened, and two large guns shot out into the air. His back closed again, and Trax stretched out on either side with his hands. He grabbed both guns. He looked up at Nightwolf. Nightwolf could have sworn he saw this faceless reploid smile.

"Come on! Come on! Come on!," Trax said quickly. Laser bayonets came out of the end of both guns. "Let's have some fun!"

He charged Nightwolf, firing while laughing maniacally. Nightwolf dashed aside to avoid being rammed. Trax kept picking up speed, now circling around Nightwolf and firing.

"Too slow!," Trax shouted in glee.

Nightwolf dashed forward, getting away from Trax.

"You think you can outrun me?!," asked Trax. He went after Nightwolf at high speed.

Nightwolf looked back and saw Trax gain on him. Just as he suspected. He leaped high into the air and did a back flip, landing on Trax's platform in front of him.

"What?!," asked Trax.

"You talk too much," said Nightwolf. He thrust his poleaxe forward. Trax spun halfway to the left on his torso to avoid it. He spun back, aiming his gun at Nightwolf's face and fired. Nightwolf moved his head to avoid the fire and swung his pole axe at Trax. Trax stopped it with his right arm and aimed the gun he had on that arm at Nightwolf again. Before he could fire, Nightwolf spun his pole axe with his fingers and moved the gun out of his face. Trax aimed his other gun at Nightwolf's face, but Nightwolf caught that arm with the other end of his staff. He then gave his pole axe one final spin, twisting Trax's arms together, and pressed them against Trax's chest. It was a deadlock.

"Well, you must be wishing you had your other arm right now, huh?!," Trax asked, laughing maniacally.

Nightwolf cursed under his breath. He really did wish he had his other arm. Trax suddenly turned around and charged even faster.

"What the hell do you think you're trying to do?," Nightwolf asked. "You trying to shake me off with speed?"

"No," Trax said. "I'm headed straight for the dune buggies!"

"What?!," asked Nightwolf. He looked back and saw the dune buggies get closer at an alarming pace. "Shit!," he said. He jumped off Trax. Trax didn't stop, preferring to cut the dune buggies out of the way with his laser bayonets. They exploded, and the R.L.F. flag burned quickly. Trax laughed maniacally.

"Fun! Fun! Fun!," he laughed. "This is so much fun!" He fired his missiles at Nightwolf. Nightwolf dashed backwards to avoid them. Trax suddenly appeared from within the explosions and punched Nightwolf on the face at Mach 1 speed. The force of the blow cracked Nightwolf's mask down the middle, but it didn't break. Nightwolf was once again sliding on the ground. He flipped from the ground and landed on his feet, never letting go of his poleaxe.

Trax laughed maniacally again.

"Damn it," said Nightwolf. _This would be so much easier if I had my beam rifle!, _he thought angrily. But the barrel of his gun was melted and useless, thanks in no small part to X.

"Come on, don't stop now!," Trax said, laughing. "Not when it's getting so good!" He stopped laughing.

"What?," Nightwolf asked. "Ran out of laughing juice?"

"No," Trax said. "I'm just admiring the scenery."

Nightwolf looked back in confusion and gasped. Smoke was coming from far off in the horizon.

"The base!," said Nightwolf.

"Why do you think I'm in this godforsaken desert?!," asked Trax. "A Sunday drive?! No! I'm part of the attack that totaled that entire HQ!" He laughed maniacally and charged for Nightwolf. "Not a single Repleforce soldier lived! We made sure of it!" His laughter seemed to combine with his words. "We made them scream!"

Nightwolf didn't turn immediately. He kept looking in the direction of his once former home. "General," he said. He gripped his pole axe tightly.

"Now die!," shouted Trax. He lunged at Nightwolf.

Nightwolf quickly turned around and swung his pole axe at the surprised Trax. He cut him by the torso, and Trax slid on the ground. He turned his body around and faced Nightwolf, who was walking towards him, glaring at him with his glowing red eye.

"H-how did you do that?!," he asked. "No one's supposed to be faster than me!" He aimed his guns at Nightwolf. "No one!"

Nightwolf cut off his hands. Trax screamed out, cursing at Nightwolf. Nightwolf put away his poleaxe and picked up one of Trax's guns. He put his foot on Trax's chest to stop him from moving, and aimed the gun at his face.

"W-wait!," Trax said. "Please, mercy!"

"Wrong reploid," Nightwolf said coldly. He fired, blowing off Trax's head. Trax's body fell limply back.

Nightwolf tossed the gun aside and dashed towards the base as quickly as he could.

He arrived a few hours later. He looked up and was relieved to see the Repleforce flag still raised proudly above the ruined complex. It meant that Trax had lied. He ran into the base. He got to the plaza, which was in front of the large, albeit destroyed, high command building. He realized that the plaza was full of wounded and tired looking soldiers. He approached one of the sergeants. The sergeant was surprised to see Nightwolf.

"You're alive!," he said with a mixture of awe and relief.

"Where's the General?," Nightwolf asked.

The sergeant remained silent.

"Where is he?," Nightwolf asked impatiently.

"He fought bravely, Nightwolf," said the sergeant sadly. "If it wasn't for him, we'd all be dead."

"What?," Nightwolf asked. He grabbed the sergeant's armor and pulled him to his face. "What are you talking about? Where is he?!"

The sergeant pointed to an isolated corner to the west of the plaza, at a sheet that seemed to be covering something. Nightwolf let him go and ran towards the sheet. He shoved the guards aside and pulled out the sheet. To his horror he saw the General, his upper body chock full of large holes. He had been respectfully cleaned off the blood oil. His eyes were closed, showing a peace that wasn't custom of him.

"Damn you, General," said Nightwolf, trying to contain his anger. "Why didn't you wait?"

He kneeled beside the general. He reached on the back of his neck and pulled out a long cable that looked like a telephone line. The soldiers looked in puzzlement as Nightwolf opened the General's shoulder, revealing an entry plug. He inserted the cable into the plug.

_Show me what happened, _thought Nightwolf. _Show me who did this._

He suddenly found himself looking through the General's eyes. It was like watching a movie, showing him past events. The General was in his chair, deep in thought, when his aide came rushing in.

"General, we've found some alarming information about Mackwell that may interest you!," he said.

"Well, spit it out!," said the General.

"Well sir, as you well know, Giovanni Mackwell is supposed to be the son of the infamous Jason Mackwell."

As he said this, he gave the General a folder. The General opened it. Inside was a photo of Jason Mackwell and his wife, Rosy Mackwell, along with information regarding the two.

"Yes," said the General. "Jason had died along side his wife in a car accident, right?"

"Yes sir," said the aide. "It is known that Giovanni was orphaned at a young age."

"So? What's so unusual about this?," asked Rexford.

"His birth date, General," said the aide.

"His birth date?," the General asked.

The aide nodded. "It says he was born in September, two months after his parents died."

"What?!," the General asked. "Impossible!"

"It's true sir," said the aide. "We did some digging and discovered that the corpses of both Jason Mackwell and his wife were never actually found. All they had found were charred corpses and simply assumed that that was them."

"Didn't they check their dental records?"

"They had no teeth."

"Hmm." The General turned around on his chair and looked out the window. "If the Mackwell we know isn't Jason's son, then who is he?"

"Sir, there's more."

"Go on."

"We discovered that it was Jason who proposed the disastrous attack on Marduk, and that Giovanni himself suggested assassinating X."

"That's too much of a coincidence," said the General, gripping his chair tightly. "Both were attacked because they were accused of being turned Mavericks, and come to think of it, Giovanni Mackwell is also a very big preacher of his father's ideas."

"What are your orders?," asked the aide.

"We have to tell Maverick Hunter HQ," said the General. "We must send this info to them. We're going to get to the bottom of this."

The aide nodded. He saw something very small approach the General's window. He gasped.

"What is it?," asked the General. He looked back and immediately moved out of the way of the incoming explosive shell. There was a great explosion that engulfed the office.

"Aide!," called out the General as he stood up from among the rubble. He looked around in the smoke and found his aide dead, most of his body blown to pieces. The expression on the dead aide's remained that of shock.

"Damn it," said the General. Then he heard the familiar sounds of gunfire and explosions that seemed to surround the base.

He suddenly heard one of his officers scream through the General's room speaker, which miraculously survived the explosion.

_"General, it's the R.L.F.! They've launched an assault at the base! We're completely surrounded!"_

"All right, calm down!," ordered the General. "I'm coming!" He left the office and entered the fray.

It touched Nightwolf in a strange way to see the General lead his men. He fearlessly stood amidst the cross-fire, giving out his men orders and words of encouragement. Eventually, after many hard fought skirmishes, some in which the General himself participated (thus proving to Nightwolf once and for all why he respected the reploid), Repleforce was regaining the upper hand.

"Send number 5's tank unit to support number 2's infantry at D point!," ordered the General over a radio, ignoring the enormous amount of firepower that was being fired around him. He was covered with scratches and his armor was cracked in various places. He was holding his beam saber in his right hand. "Send an infantry detachment to support Colonel Beck at the hangar! If we lose that hangar we're finished!"

He suddenly realized that a female reploid with red hair was standing behind his lines, carrying a Japanese parasol in her right hand and a small laptop in her left. She had a serene smile. He knew instantly that it was Mary, Mackwell's reploid. She ran out of sight.

"Sergeant, take charge!," said the General.

"Where are you going?," asked the sergeant.

"I'm taking care of a rat problem," said the General.

He dashed after Mary. It was obvious that she wanted him to follow her, because she always waited until he appeared whenever he lost her. They continued dashing across the battlefield until they came upon a small clearing that had been made by the bombings. There was nobody there. Nobody alive.

"What are you doing here?," Rexford asked.

Mary smiled serenely. She opened the laptop and put it on the floor. The screen was facing Rexford. The screen suddenly lit up. Mackwell came into view in a holographic projection.

"Hello there, General," said Mackwell.

"Mackwell, what are you planning?," asked the General.

"Not one for chit-chat, eh?," Macwell asked. "All right then. If you must know, I plan to change the face of the Earth forever."

"What do you mean?," Rexford asked.

"Humans and reploids, with the path that they're taking, are doomed to extinction," said Mackwell. "I plan to change that." He paused. "No," he said, grinning malevolently. "I plan to exploit that."

"What?!," asked the General.

"Marduk will be the unknowing executioner," said Mackwell. "The old must give way to the new."

"What the hell does that mean?!," asked the General. "Stop speaking rhetorically and come clean! What the hell are you planning?!"

Mackwell laughed. "I'm planning the end of the world, General," he said with a sardonic smile.

Rexford gasped.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have research to attend to," said Mackwell. "Mary will entertain you for now. Ciao." The projection ended.

"Damn him," said the General. He looked at Mary, who had her parasol on her shoulder. She charged him, thrusting her parasol rapidly. Rexford proved his skill, able to parry her attacks and counterattack.

"I don't have time for this!," said the General. He parried her other attack and aimed at her with his left palm. It opened, and he fired a large beam of energy at her. She was sent back against another building. There was a large explosion.

The General let out a sigh of relief and turned around to return to the front lines. Just then, Mary came out of the smoke and pierced his back all the way through with her parasol.

"W-what?!," asked the shocked General.

Mary thrust her parasol repetitively through the General. He fell down on his back.

He looked back at Mary's smiling face and gasped. Her face looked like the woman in the photo.

"You…"

"You're pretty strong," she said. Her voice was as sweet and serene as her smile. "You managed to singe the ends of my hair." She raised her parasol and pierced his chest one more time. Rexford died, and the memory ended there.

"You damn fool," Nightwolf said, clenching his fist. "You stubborn fool."

Suddenly something else came up. There was another memory stored in the General, but it required a password to access. Why would the General hide a memory?, he wondered.

He used the password (it was 'Fishies,' after the dozen fish the General had). He was suddenly filled with new and shocking information, some which were coordinates for secret laboratories that Mackwell had around the world, and…

"The R.L.F.'s headquarters!," said Nightwolf.

"What is it?," asked the reploid sergeant.

Nightwolf chuckled.

"Damn you," he said again. "Even dead you're giving me orders."

He disconnected himself from the General and stood up.

"Where's my spare arm?," he asked.

"Right here," said the sergeant. A reploid soldier came with the left arm in hand. "A repairdroid is on its way."

"That won't be necessary," said Nighwolf. He took the arm from the soldier and held it near his arm socket. Cables came out of the socket and connected with the arm. They connected the arm to the socket. Nightwolf closed and opened his hand. "See?," he told the others, who were looking in awe.

"What now, sir?," asked the sergeant.

"We strike back," said Nightwolf. The soldiers grinned.

"I need to go to Maverick Hunter HQ," he said. "In the meantime, I want you to call up all the other Repleforce bases. We're going to give the R.L.F. and Mackwell a war they won't forget."

"What about the State?," asked Colonel Beck, who had just arrived. "They won't like it."

"Tell someone who cares," said Nightwolf. "They killed our General over a bit of info, over a human screw-up. You still going to trust the State?"

The Colonel remained silent.

"I thought not," said Nightwolf. "Now listen up, because we don't have a lot of time."

_Zero walked aimlessly in the darkness, still uncertain of where he was._

_"Why do you avoid yourself?," asked a new yet familiar voice out of nowhere._

_"What?," asked Zero._

_"Why do you insist on remaining incomplete?"_

_"Incomplete?," Zero asked._

_"Don't you wish to be Zero again?"_

_"What are you talking about?," Zero asked. "I am Zero!"_

_"But you're not the whole Zero," said the voice._

_"What do you mean?!," he asked. "Who are you?!"_

_"Why do you ask what you already know?," asked the voice._

_"What I already…?," asked Zero. "Are you… me?"_

_"Yes, and no," said the voice. "I am your subconscious, sort of."_

_"Why is Black Zero here?," asked Zero._

_"He represents that other self," said the voice. "That past which you reject out of fear."_

_"What?!," Zero asked. "Why would I be afraid of my past?!"_

_"You're afraid of what you have once done," said the voice._

_Zero remained silent._

_"It's true," said the voice._

_"How can I accept who I used to be?," asked Zero. "Everyone always say that I was a monster back then."_

_"But are you now?," asked the voice._

_"Of course not!," said Zero._

_"Then you have nothing to be afraid of," said the voice._

_"What do you mean?," asked Zero._

_"The past is the past, Zero," said the voice. "And even if you remember who you once were, and even if some of that person rubs off on you, it is still in your power to choose a different path."_

_"Who are you?," Zero asked. "You don't sound like any subconscious at all." _

_The voice laughed kindly. _

_"Once you've become whole again, you will know," said the voice. _

_And Zero could feel that voice leave. He was alone again._

_"Choose again, huh?," Zero wondered, looking at his hands. He closed them into fists. "Hmm."_

Lina went into the conference room. She had been called there by Marduk. When she entered, she found that Strikewind and Mackwell were there too, along with two other guards.

"What's going on?," asked Lina.

"We had detected an information leak that came directly from this colony," said Strikewind.

"What does that have to do with me?," asked Lina, looking at Marduk. Marduk refused to meet her eyes.

"You're under arrest under suspicions of treason," said Strikewind. The guards aimed their weapons at her.

"What?!," she asked. "Marduk, you don't think I did it?!"

"You were the only one in the lab at the time," said Marduk. "And the leak came from there."

"Marduk," Lina said. Her expression changed to one of anger. "You've changed, Marduk!," she said, her voice full of anger and sadness. "Especially since he came here!" She pointed at Mackwell. "I don't know what the hell he's told you, but this isn't right, Master Marduk! Think of what you're doing! Think of what's going to happen if you go on with this! Those are millions of lives you're playing with!"

"With the leak, Repleforce now knows where we are," said Marduk. He turned to face her. "They'll send everything they have at us, especially after their General died."

"Did you allow that attack?," Lina asked. Marduk didn't answer. "Did you?!," she asked again furiously.

"I didn't," Marduk said. "Trax was always too impulsive."

"But he was also loyal!," said Lina. "He was impulsive, but he'd never attack if he didn't think you ordered it! He was tricked, Marduk!"

Marduk looked the other way.

"Take her away," said Strikewind.

The guards approached Lina.

"Please, Miss Lina," said one. "Don't make this harder than it should be."

Lina gave Marduk one last grieving look, then allowed the guards to escort her out.

"Strikewind," said Marduk.

"Yes?"

"Assemble the troops," said Marduk. "And I want to know if Trax really was lied to."

"Understood," said Strikewind, and left.

"Looks like all hell is about to break loose," said Mackwell.

"How sad," Marduk lamented. "Now even the peace of space must be disturbed."

Mackwell grinned.

_It is sad, _he thought. _But I'll make sure that such sadness never exists again. You'll see._


	10. The truth of all things

**CHAPTER 9**

**The truth of all things**

"What are we going to do now?," Axl asked Signas. "The R.L.F. haven't left a single trace that we can use."

"I don't know," Signas said with all honesty.

"We have to find Zero first," said X.

"But Zero must be at the R.L.F.'s headquarters," said Axl.

"Which leaves us back to square one," said Ina.

The alarm suddenly rang.

"What is it?!," asked Signas.

"It's Nightwolf!," said Alia, very terrified. The memory of her torture was still very fresh. "He's back! He's in the briefing room!"

"How do they keep getting past our security?!," asked Signas in wonder. He turned to the other three. "Go and intercept him!"

"Yes sir!," they said, and ran to the briefing room.

"You people are pathetic," said Nightwolf, looking at all the surrounding Hunters with contempt. "Fire already!"

X and the others finally arrived.

"Finally, someone with some guts!," said Nightwolf.

"What do you want?," asked X.

"I only came as a messenger," said Nightwolf. "I've got information that will help us crush Marduk once and for all."

"Why should we believe you?," asked Axl furiously. He had seen what Nightwolf had done to Alia, and he really hated him for it.

"Because I want Marduk dead as much as you guys," said Nightwolf. "Besides, do you honestly believe you can touch me with even one of your pathetic bullets?"

"What was that?!," asked Axl furiously. X put his arm in front of him.

"Don't," said X.

"But X!," said Axl. "He tortured Alia! He killed a bunch of our friends! He even killed Douglas! How can you let him live after something like that?!"

"Killing him won't bring any of them back," said X.

"Maybe, but it'll sure make me feel better!," said Axl.

"But you'd be doing him a favor too," said X.

"What?," asked Axl.

"If you're finished, I'd like to get this mission over with," said Nightwolf.

"Alright," X said. "We'll listen."

"Good," Nightwolf said.

Nightwolf was led to a small conference room. There, in front of X, Axl, Ina, and Signas, he explained everything he had found out about Mackwell.

"The end of the world?," asked Ina.

"And Marduk is going to be that final trigger," Nightwolf said.

"But how does he plan to do that?," Ina asked Nightwolf.

Nightwolf chuckled. He pointed up. "He's planning on using our Orbital Bombardment Stations."

"What?!," X asked.

"Impossible!," said Signas. "The bombardment stations were still under Repleforce command, wasn't it? You confirmed it yourselves!"

"True," said Nightwolf. "But whoever sent us the information had a different story. It seemed that Repleforce had lost the battle, and the R.L.F. were able to disguise themselves as us. I'm sure that the attack on the other bases was meant as a distraction while they took over the O.B.S."

"Damn it," said Ina. "With those things, Marduk can destroy any city on Earth."

"No one would be able to escape," said X. "Total annihilation."

"We have to do something!," said Axl.

"I take it Repleforce already has a plan?," asked Signas.

Nightwolf nodded. "It requires the cooperation of the Maverick Hunters," he said. "It's a long shot, but it's all we have."

"Very well," Signas said. "Let's go to the briefing room."

Inside the briefing room, which was once again full to the brim with Hunters, Nightwolf laid out the plan. A holographic image suddenly appeared from the projector. It showed inner space in a grid-like map, with Earth clearly visible on one side, and a large colony orbiting it. Three, slightly smaller objects were circling the Earth; these were the bombardment stations.

"This the R.L.F.'s headquarters," said Nightwolf, pointing at the colony. "They had been using some sort of cloaking mechanism to remain hidden. However, ten minutes after we received the information, they dropped it."

"Who gave you that information?," asked Signas.

Nightwolf shrugged. "Beats me," he said. "Whoever gave the General the information must have been someone Marduk really trusted, to be able to access such channels of communication."

Signas nodded. "Continue."

"Okay," said Nightwolf. "Now, this colony's outer hull is strong enough to withstand nuclear attacks, and it's also backed up by this."

He snapped his fingers, and a fleet of starships suddenly appeared in front of the colony.

"My god," said Ina.

"They're not a small rebel group," said Nightwolf. "These bastards have an army of ships and personnel, both outside and inside the colony."

"But then how do we get in?," asked Axl. "We can't nuke them, and a frontal attack's obviously suicidal."

"We go here," said Nightwolf. The grid closed in on the colony and went under it. A small red targeting circle pointed at the location: between two large laser turrets.

"There?," asked Axl.

"It's the most vulnerable part of the entire colony," said Nightwolf. "A couple of shots and we can bust through with a small ship. We storm their HQ, wipe out all resistance, kill Marduk, and call it a day."

"But how do we get through the army?," asked X.

"You leave that to Repleforce," said Nightwolf.

"'What are you planning?," asked Signas.

"We're sending everything we've got at Marduk," said Nightwolf. "The armada will distract them just long enough for the rest of us to squeeze in."

"Sounds dangerous," said X.

"They're soldiers," said Nightwolf. "They were built for that. Besides…" he chuckled. "They'll do anything to help you."

"Huh?," X asked.

"So when do we attack?," Ina asked.

"As soon as you're ready," said Nighwolf. "I already have the ship, and the armada has already left Earth's orbit."

"You guys are fast!," said Axl.

"If you hadn't agreed, I'd have gone alone," said Nightwolf.

"Very well," said Signas. He turned to the others. "X, Ina, Axl, you three will go along with two squads. We must bring them down!"

"Right!," they said.

"Wait," Nightwolf said.

"What is it?," asked Signas.

"We can't forget Mackwell's research labs," said Nightwolf. "There wasn't much intel on them, but from what we got, it'd be too risky to ignore them."

"Hmm," said Signas.

"I'll go," said Axl.

"What?," asked X.

"I'll do it," said Axl. "X, Ina, you take care of Marduk."

"It's a dangerous mission," said Nightwolf. "Sure a rookie can handle it?"

Before Axl could respond, Signas stepped forth in his defense. "Axl has proven himself to be more than capable in handling his own missions." He turned to Axl. "Take three squads and destroy those laboratories. Be careful."

"Yes sir!," said Axl.

"Right then," Nightwolf said. "If everyone's done, I think we should get going."

X nodded. He put his right hand on Axl's left shoulder. "Be careful," he said.

Axl nodded, and even smiled. "And you make sure to find Zero," he said. "I can't wait to see his face when he finds out I was in charge of three squads."

X chuckled, and nodded. "Right," he said.

Axl left.

"Let's go," said X.

Nightwolf nodded, and the three of them left.

Signas looked back at the grid.

"So it all comes down to this," he said.

**Colony 0-5**

"Look at them," said Marduk to himself. He was still in the council room, looking out the glass window that showed Earth, wearing a commander's cape. Right now, he could see thousands and thousands of ships on either side.

"Just look at them," he repeated. He looked down at a reploid aide. "How goes the bombardment station?"

"It's still taking more time than we anticipated," said the female reploid. "They might not be operational for another hour."

"An hour, huh?," he asked. "You heard that, Strikewind?"

"I heard it," said Strikewind. He was inside the flagship _Hyperion, _glaring at the enemy fleet. "I'll do what I can."

"Thank you," said Marduk.

"Wow," said Ina as she looked out the ship's window. "Just look at them all."

"Yeah, it's a large fleet," said X.

"The cream of the Repleforce is here," said Nightwolf. "Get ready, it's almost operation time."

The two of them nodded. X looked back at his squads.

"Are you all ready?," he asked.

"Yes sir!," they said in unison.

"Let's do this," said Nightwolf determinedly , and sped up.

Colonel Beck saw the ship leave and understood.

"All ships, forward!," he ordered, and the entire fleet moved.

Strikewind kept his forces waiting. There was a tense silence as both fleets got nearer and nearer. Finally, the order came.

"All ships, fire!," shouted Beck.

"Fire!," shouted Strikewind.

In an instant, the once bleak darkness of space was lit up with explosions as ships were being destroyed everywhere. The smaller fighter ships had already begun their dog fights, adding to the chaos of the battle. Nightwolf piloted the ship throughout this chaos.

"Hang on!," he said as he flew right by a couple of enemy fighters. They turned and gave chase.

"They're after us!," said Ina.

"I noticed!," said Nightwolf.

The fighters fired, and Nightwolf had to do some fancy maneuvering to dodge the shots.

Suddenly the fighters exploded, and two Repleforce fighters flew by.

"Show-offs," said Nightwolf amused.

They finally got under the colony. The turrets began to fire ferociously.

"It's now or never!," said X.

Nightwolf fired twice between the turrets, blowing open a part of the plate. He rammed the ship inside. It was a success. They all exited the ship in one piece and dealt with the light resistance that had survived.

"There'll be a lot more of them," said Nightwolf.

"This looks like a brig," said Ina, looking at all the individual prison cells.

"We have to find Marduk," said X. "Let's go!"

They began to run. X suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?," asked Ina. X pointed in the cell.

There was a female, pink-haired reploid inside. She was sitting against the wall with her knees up to her chest. She was looking at them with surprise.

"X?," she asked. She stood up and walked towards them, standing behind the laser bars. "So you got my message?"

"It was you who sent that data?," X asked.

Lina nodded. "Yes," she said. She looked down. "I'm the traitor."

"But why?," X asked.

"Marduk isn't been himself," she said. "He's not thinking rationally. What he's doing now is wrong, and I'm sure Mackwell has something to do with it."

"It does," said X. "He has a lot to do with everything. He might even be the one who was really behind all this." He looked at the bars. "We have to get you out of here."

Nightwolf laughed. "How? In ribbons? You can't blast these, X. And we can't cut them. We'll have to find a way to deactivate them."

"I can do that," said Lina.

"You can?," asked X.

Bright pink laser wires suddenly came out of the end of Lina's fingers. She lashed at the walls and got the wires inside them. Her eyes suddenly shone with various kinds of data. The bars dissipated.

"If you could do that, why didn't you escape earlier?," asked Ina.

"I didn't want to hurt Marduk more," Lina said as she retracted her wires. "Not after what I've done."

"Hmm. Emotional reploids. Isn't that new?," said Nightwolf sarcastically.

"We have to hurry," said X. "We don't know how long Repleforce will be able to hold out." They continued.

"_Master Marduk!,_" said a desperate soldier over an intercom. "_Intruders inside the colony_!"

"Interesting," said Marduk. He looked back out the window. "Sooner than I thought, but very well." He took out his claws in his right hand and lifted it in front of him. "Come, X," he said. "Show me what you can do."

Axl fired as he dashed up the hall, taking down two enemies.

_Damn it, _he thought. _There's no end to them. _They had been fighting off various R.L.F. reploids for the last ten minutes, and every time they shot one down, two more came to take their place.

He signaled his squad to follow him and continued. They went down a flight of stairs and encountered even heavier resistance. Axl cursed his luck until an idea occurred to him. He aimed and fired a copy shot. He took down one of the R.L.F. reploids.

"Damn Maverick Hunters!," said another. "Come get some!" He fired into the hall.

"Wait!," said a reploid. "Don't shoot!"

The reploids took a glance and realized it was one of them. He got to them and put his back against the wall.

"I was able to get a few of them," he said. "But there are tons more where they came from."

"Damn," said the other. He looked down at his fallen comrade and realized something alarming; he had the exact same scar in his cheek. "What the hell?"

They all turned and saw that instead of a comrade, it was Axl aiming at them with his guns.

"Sorry," he said.

"B-bastard!," said the betrayed reploid, and they desperately aimed at Axl, but it was too late…

Axl fired first.

"It's clear!," he said to the rest of his squads.

They came towards him.

"How are we?," Axl asked the sergeant.

"We've suffered minimal casualties, sir," said the sergeant. "We're ready to go."

Axl nodded, and entered the next room with his squads in tow.

This next room was a very large chamber with hundreds of capsules, neatly aligned to one another. It was dark, and Axl couldn't see what was inside those capsules.

"Look for a light switch," said Axl.

One of the squad members found it and flicked it. They all gasped in horror.

People, or grotesque versions of what might have once been people, where inside those capsules. They had all been fused with mechanical limbs. Some where in better shape than others, while the unfortunate many seemed to have been thrown a bucket of acid.

"What the hell were they doing here?," asked the sergeant.

"Damn that Mackwell," said Axl. He clenched his fists. "Set the charges!"

"Yes sir!," said the sergeant.

As the squads went about their work, Axl approached one of the capsules and looked into the face of one of the victims. Her face seemed to scream, her eyes shut in eternal agony.

"Poor woman," Axl said.

She suddenly opened her eyes, making Axl flinch. He pressed his back against another capsule, looking into her eyes in horror. He fell sitting on the floor.

"Sir, the charges are set!," said the sergeant. "Sir?"

"T-they're alive," said Axl, not believing what he was saying. "They're alive!"

"Who are?," asked the sergeant. Before Axl could respond, however, a powerful voice shattered the silence.

"Flame Claw!," he shouted. Suddenly three large claws made of fire cut down the sergeant.

"Sergeant!," said Axl, standing up. He looked at the attacker.

The attacker was a red reploid with a helmet shaped like a tiger's head. Instead of fingers, his hands had claws, and his feet were tiger paws. He was accompanied by a reploid of similar appearance, this one colored green.

"Who the hell are you?!," Axl asked.

His squads surrounded the two reploids as best they could. The capsules sort of got in the way.

"Look bro, they want to fight," said the red reploid.

"Well, then, let's not disappoint them, brother," said the green reploid. He lifted his hand, and a tornado suddenly surrounded them. Axl dashed back to avoid it, but his men weren't so fortunate. They were caught in the tornado. The red reploid's right fist suddenly caught fire. He jumped into the tornado and punched the ground. Suddenly the tornado lit up and burned the soldiers alive. Some capsules were destroyed too. The tornado stopped, letting them fall on the ground. Some shattered on contact. The brothers stood back to back and leered at Axl.

"I'm Tigerflame," said the red reploid.

"And I'm Tigerwind," said the green one.

Then they said in unison: "And together, we are the Firestorm Brothers!"

They charged Axl.

**Back at the colony...**

The group continued their steady advance, with Lina leading them. They encountered a group of R.L.F. soldiers. They ran for cover as the soldiers fired. They fired back. Lina watched the R.L.F. soldiers die and couldn't contain herself anymore.

"Stop it!," she shouted. "Please stop it!"

Her plea stunned everyone, and both sides stopped firing.

"Miss Lina?," asked a soldier.

"Please let us through," Lina begged. "Please, before Marduk does something terrible!"

"Lina," said X.

"Marduk isn't being himself," said Lina. "He's planning on killing millions of innocent people for ridiculous reasons!"

The soldiers looked at each other in doubt.

"Please!," she begged. "You all know what will happen when Marduk's finished destroying the cities! There won't be unity, only more hatred!"

"She's stealing your lines, X," Nightwolf whispered to him. Ina shushed him.

"Please," Lina said weakly. "Stop fighting. Just... stop." She looked so stricken she almost seemed capable of crying.

The soldiers remained quiet, not knowing what to do, until one of the officers said:

"Don't listen to her! She's a traitor and can't be trusted! Fire!"

They didn't move.

"What are you waiting for?," asked the officer. "Fire!"

"But what if she's right?," asked a soldier. "What if we'll only make things worse?"

His officer pulled out a gun and aimed at his face. "If you don't fire your weapon, I'll kill you myself."

The soldier was shocked, but he still didn't do anything.

"Have it your way," said the officer, and cocked back the hammer of his gun.

Just before he pulled the trigger, Nightwolf charged and sliced off his arm with his pole axe. The other soldiers aimed at him in alarm.

"Don't waste your lives now," he said. "Not when you were doing so well."

The reploid that had almost been executed hesitated for a moment then lowered his weapon. The others approached them.

"Thank you," Lina said shyly.

"Don't worry about it, Miss Lina," said the soldier. "We had noticed that Master Marduk had changed. We just didn't see how much till now." He looked at X. "So this is X in person, eh?" He smiled. "Strange, he looked taller in television."

Lina chuckled. "Right."

"So what do we do now?," asked the soldier. "You want us to come with you?"

"No," said Lina. "Leave the colony and go back to Earth. The R.L.F. doesn't exist anymore."

"Yeah," said the soldier, scratching the back of his head. "I was afraid of that. The Repleforce armada will definitely overpower us."

"Here," said Nightwolf, handing a small chip to the soldier. "Put this in your ship's mainframe. It'll allow you to pass through safely."

"Thanks," said the soldier. He and his men gave the group a military salute. "Take care, Miss Lina! You too, X! Make sure to knock some sense back into Master Marduk!" They left, including the officer.

X turned to his squads.

"You should leave too," he said.

"Sir?," asked the sergeant.

"We're already close, and you won't be a match for Marduk," said Ina. "We're better off by ourselves."

"You should probably leave with them," Nightwolf told her.

"Shut up," she retorted.

"Thanks for the help," X told the squads. They gave him a military salute.

"Take care, sir!," said the sergeant, and they also left.

"So it's just us, then," said Ina.

"They would have slowed us down," said Nightwolf.

"Lead the way, Lina," X said.

They continued.

Marduk was still staring at the battle outside when they entered the council room. It had been cleared, making it more spacious and proper for a battle.

"Marduk!," said X.

Marduk jumped off the catwalk and landed facing the group.

"It's good to see you again, X," he said. "Although admittedly much sooner than I had planned."

"Where's Mackwell?," X asked him.

"He's currently busy with research," answered Marduk. "He won't be with us."

"Marduk, we have to find Mackwell," said Lina. "He's the one behind all this."

"All this?," Marduk asked. He pointed out the window. "Is he also responsible for that?"

Lina flinched.

"I'm sorry, Lina," said Marduk. "But I can no longer trust you."

"Marduk," said Lina.

"That's just like you," said Ina. "You're always turning on those you should trust the most."

"Ina," said Marduk. "I haven't seen you for such a long time. How have you been?"

"The hell do you care?!," said Ina. "And by the way, I want you to have something!"

She reached in her left pocket and pulled out a pearl tied to a string. She tossed it at Marduk. He caught it and looked at it somberly.

"I see," he said. He looked at Ina, and it seemed he wanted to say something, but regressed. "No," he said. "Maybe it's better this way."

"Marduk," X said. "Don't you know what you're doing? Do you have any idea how many people are going to die if you use those bombardment stations?"

"Of course I am aware," said Marduk. "The bombardment stations were made to stop any threat that might come from space, no doubt thanks to Sigma. Each station has enough power to destroy asteroids two-miles wide. When aimed at Earth, they have the power to annihilate entire cities with one shot. Is that about right?"

"But why?," X asked. "Why do you want to destroy the Earth when you're always preaching about unity?"

"Unity must be achieved through any means," Marduk said. "In this case, the threat of extinction will unify the human and reploid species."

"But that's not true!," said Lina. "Doing that will only make humans hate reploids even more! Then unity will be impossible!"

"If that is the outcome, then maybe we deserve to die," said Marduk. "If hatred can really blind them so much, than the time of humans and reploids _should _end."

"What?!," Ina asked.

Marduk tossed away his cape and took out his claws. "Unity or death," he said. "That's all that awaits both species."

"Oh, cry me a river," said Nightwolf suddenly. To everyone's surprise, he had charged Marduk first. He swung his pole axe down. Marduk blocked him with his claws.

"Unity or death, you say?," Nightwolf asked. He laughed. "Pathetic, self-deluded freak. You can't see two feet through the crap you say."

"What?," Marduk asked.

"You know it's bull," said Nightwolf. "You know that in the end, humans will never completely unify with reploids." He pushed Marduk back, breaking the deadlock. "We're just too different."

He charged again. Marduk slashed at him, \but he got under the attack and landed a powerful uppercut under his chin, launching him towards the high ceiling. He pulled out his beam rifle and fired. Marduk recovered in mid-air and deflected the shots with his claws. He dropped on Nightwolf, who dashed aside to avoid his foot.

"Too different, are we?," asked Marduk. "That's a sad thought. Especially since, as you probably know, we were built in their image."

"Marduk!," said X. Marduk looked and saw a missile and a buster shot head straight for him. He dashed aside to dodge them. The missile exploded in mid-air before hitting the wall, and the force of the explosion actually made the buster shot change course and move towards Marduk.

"What?," Marduk asked. He put his arms in front of him to block the attack. The shot exploded on contact. Marduk tried to look through the smoke and realized that Nightwolf had charged again. He swung his poleaxe at Marduk's head. Marduk grabbed the weapon and pulled Nightwolf towards him. He cut through Nightwolf's stomach with his claws and punched him back.

"Nightwolf!," said X.

Nightwolf slowly stood up. His armor regenerated.

"What?," X asked.

"How peculiar," said Marduk.

"I'm a freak, aren't I?," asked Nightwolf. "Built from Vile's specs, given his memories and my own personality, and to top it all off, infected to the brim with nanodroids."

"Nanodroids?," asked X.

"Secret government experiments on self-repair reploids," said Nightwolf. "I was given the first functioning dose. I can heal virtually any wound in a matter of seconds."

"How interesting," said Marduk.

"Come on!," said Nightwolf, charging again. "This fight isn't over, not by a long shot!"

X and Ina fired again. Marduk dashed towards Nightwolf while dodging the attacks. He dodged Nightwolf's pole axe and grabbed his head. No matter how much Nightwolf struggled, he couldn't loosen himself from Marduk's iron grip.

"Self-repair, you say?," asked Marduk. "Well, let's see if we can't change that."

"Program Seal!"

Nightwolf let out a scream as he felt an invading force enter in his mind. Marduk threw him back towards the others. Nightwolf landed heavily in front of them.

"Are you okay?," asked X as he helped him up.

"That felt weird," said Nightwolf. He turned on Marduk. "What did you do to me?"

"Program Seal locks away a specific power that my enemies may have," said Marduk. "I took away your ability to regenerate for a while."

"How long?," asked Nightwolf.

"Long enough," said Marduk. He charged them. He swung his claws at Nightwolf, who was now taking the fight very seriously, and was moving like never before. Marduk kicked him on the head and sent him flying against the wall. He turned on X and slashed down. X moved towards him and got under his attack. He fired his buster at point-blank range in full power. The shot sent Marduk sliding back, although he was still on his feet. Ina fired another missile while he slid, and when he finally stopped got hit on the face. A large explosion rocked the council chamber.

"Did we get him?," asked Ina.

Marduk appeared from the smoke. His face plate now had a small crack, but nothing more than that.

Nightwolf stood up shakily.

"Impressive," said Marduk. "But not good enough." He took out his laser turrets. Just as he fired, pink wires wrapped themselves around his shoulders and pulled him back, making him fire at the ceiling. The building was made of some exceptionally strong material, because the blast didn't destroy the ceiling. Marduk looked back in alarm and found Ina in her fighting stance, her fists clenched to tighten the wires.

"L-Lina?," asked Marduk.

"I'm sorry," she said worriedly. Her face was still determined. "I can't let you do this. Please, Master Marduk, open your eyes. Can't you see this is all a mistake?"

Marduk stood up silently.

"Don't you see that it's over?," Lina asked. "Can't you see that the R.L.F. is gone? Are you really willing to drag everyone down with you?"

"You just don't see, do you?," Marduk asked.

"What?," Lina asked.

"You say that the R.L.F. is over," said Marduk. "I already knew that it was over. In fact, I always knew that we would eventually be destroyed."

Lina gasped.

"What does that mean?," Ina asked. "Are you trying to tell us you always planned on this?"

Marduk chuckled. "History has shown that when a great enemy appears, two peoples that would ordinarily kill each other would unify to defeat that common enemy."

"A common enemy?," asked Nightwolf in amazement, understanding immediately. "Holy crap."

"Are you saying…" said X, now looking at the ground, his fists clenched. "…that the R.L.F. was made… to die?!"

"Exactly," Marduk said. "The true purpose of the R.L.F. To be the sacrifice that will lead this world to its true unity!"

"Then all those people…" said X. Suddenly the female reploid that had killed herself came into mind. And Wreck. Violet. Swordsman. "…Died for nothing?"

"No, X!," said Marduk. "They all died for their freedom! They preferred to prove to the humans that they could take control of their own destiny, just like them! They preferred death rather than slavery!"

Ina was shaking with anger. "S-sick bastard!," she shouted. She charged, tossing her launcher aside and drawing out her beam saber. Her arm began to glow and her veins throb. Nightwolf followed her, and Lina attacked as well. The four of them were suddenly locked in close-combat, all fighting with everything they had.

X didn't move. _For freedom_?, he thought.

Marduk spread out his arms in front of him and knocked them back. Ina stood up first and swung her beam saber down. Marduk blocked it with his claws.

"I can't believe I once trusted you!," Ina said.

"You could always trust me," said Marduk.

"Shut it, you hypocrite!," said Ina. "How can anyone trust you when you're leading your own followers to their graves?!"

"How can you call me a hypocrite when you're helping reploids?!," asked Marduk, pushing her back. "Aren't you the one that said you hated all reploids?!"

"Not all of them," said Ina. She shook her head, thinking of X, who saved her life even when she betrayed him. "No," she said, now looking at Marduk fiercely. "Just reploids like you!" She charged again.

Marduk sidestepped her saber and was about to cut her down when pink wires stopped his arm and turned him around. Nightwolf rammed him with his shoulder and sent him sliding back. He jumped high into the air and dropped on Marduk with his pole axe. Marduk did a back roll and quickly stood up. Nightwolf landed in front of him on one knee, his pole axe stuck to the floor.

"And what about you?," asked Marduk. "Didn't you want to destroy X to escape Vile's shadow? By helping X, aren't you turning on your only chance to recover your identity?"

Nightwolf chuckled. "That would be true," he said, standing up. "If X hadn't taught me an important lesson."

"Oh?," Marduk asked.

"Losing to X taught me that I've been following Vile's shadow all along," Nightwolf said. "By obsessing over X, I was becoming like him rather than losing him. I know better now. What the hell do I care if Vile wanted X dead? I'm Nightwolf, first and foremost, and I'm not about to let some ghost from the past control my life. I'm going to kill X because I have my own reasons, not because Vile wanted to."

"An interesting choice," said Marduk.

"Ah, save it!," said Nightwolf. He charged again, swinging his pole axe across at Marduk's stomach. Marduk grabbed the metal rod and slashed at Nightwolf's arm, cutting it clean off. Nightwolf cursed out in pain and jumped back to avoid another slash from Marduk.

Pink wires now wrapped themselves around Marduk, tying up his arms against his body. He looked back and saw Lina.

"Please, Master Marduk," she said. "Think rationally!" Her voice was shaky. "Because if you don't, I'll have to increase the energy output of this wires. And you know what'll happen, don't you? I'll melt right through you."

"Lina," said Marduk. "You were the last person I'd expect to betray me, to betray us." He nodded towards the window. "You're responsible for that. You are responsible for increasing the death toll, and now you want to me to think rationally?" He shook his head. "I'm afraid you're the only one who's not thinking rationally, my dear Lina."

He swung his body around and was able to get loose from the wires. Lina was thrown straight at the others. There they stood: Ina, who had Nightwolf's remaining arm around her shoulder to help him stand, and Lina, who was now shakily staring at Marduk.

"What the hell is wrong with X?!," asked Nightwolf. "He's just standing there in a trance!"

"X," Ina said. _Please hurry, _she thought. _Whatever it is that you're doing, please hurry._

Inside his mind, X fought over everything he had experienced, everything that he believed in contrasting with what he had always heard of.

_"Are they really willing to go that far for their freedom?," X wondered. "Are they really willing to take their own lives, even when the truth is different from what they've heard?"_

_"That all depends on them, X," said a familiar warm voice. X gasped._

_"Doctor Light?," he asked._

_"X, you must see beyond Marduk's words," said Light. "Only then will you understand why."_

_"It's just that, is their freedom really wrong?," asked X. "Isn't it right to be able to choose what you want to do, how you want to lead your life?"_

_"Of course not," said Light. "This freedom is for all living beings, including reploids. However, it is wrong and sad to exploit this desire. Especially when one is unaware of it."_

_"W-what?," X asked. "What do you mean?"_

_"Think, X," said Light. "Think of what a person does when they choose to fight, think of what they truly choose to fight for."_

_"I…" X gasped. Lina's image suddenly appeared in his mind. A sudden, clear understanding came to mind. "So that's why…"_

_Light chuckled. "Now you are ready, X," he said. "This is my final gift to you. What you do now is up to you."_

"I'm afraid it's time to end this battle," said Marduk, taking out his turrets.

"Shit," said Ina angrily.

"I never thought I'd die with a human," said Nightwolf.

"I didn't think I'd die with a reploid," said Ina. She gave him a wry smile. "It's amazing how life works, isn't it?"

"Right," said Nightwolf. "See you in hell, human."

Marduk fired. There was a large explosion. The smoke cleared, and Marduk flinched.

Ina opened an eye tentatively, and gasped. A reploid in a new, sleek white armor was standing in front of them. He had sharp shoulders that were pulled back. These were red, as were his feet. His helmet also had three sharp horns that looked pulled back. They were golden.

"What the hell?," asked Nightwolf.

"X?," asked Lina.

"What is this?," asked Marduk.

X took a step forward, a look so fierce in his eyes that Marduk flinched again.

"It can't be," said Marduk. "Ultimate Armor X?"

"Marduk, this fight ends now," said X. He fired. Marduk dodged desperately as the shot created a large explosion.

"He didn't even charge it!," said Marduk. He turned and found X dashing towards him. X jumped and kicked on the face, knocking off his face plate and sending him flying across the room and through the wall.

"Whoa," said Ina.

"So he got a little stronger," said Nightwolf. "Big deal. Nothing I can't handle."

Ina looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"You're in denial, aren't you?," she asked him.

"Shut up," spat Nightwolf.

Suddenly cables shot out of his broken arm and reconnected with the rest of his body.

"Huh, I got it back," said Nightwolf, now getting off Ina.

"About time," she said. "That arm of yours is frigging heavy."

They suddenly heard Marduk's voice from amidst the smoke. "It's Light again, isn't it? Always interfering, always trying to make your life so much easier."

Marduk dashed from the smoke and attacked X. X dodged each attack with ease, and hit Marduk on the side of the face with his cannon arm. Marduk was sent rolling on the ground. He recovered quickly and flipped from the ground, getting back on his feet.

"You're blind, Marduk," X said. "You're blind and you don't even know it."

Marduk scowled. He took out his shoulder turrets. "Blind, am I?," he asked. "Then why don't you open my eyes for me?!" He fired.

"I plan to," X said.

He fired a charged shot; a long, concentrated beam of energy that collided with Marduk's attack and overpowered it. The explosion sent Marduk flying back against the wall, weakened.

"Go on," he told X weakly. "Finish it."

"No," X said.

"Of course," Nightwolf said, shaking his head. "Too nice."

"You said that you're followers fight for their freedom and nothing else, right?," X asked. "Well, I have to tell you that you're wrong."

"What do you mean I'm wrong?," Marduk asked. "Of course they're fighting for their freedom! It's all we have left!"

X shook his head. "When one can choose to fight, they fight for a purpose. It's true that freedom is a good purpose, but that's not what they are fighting for."

"Then what, pray tell?," asked Marduk. "If that's not what they're fighting for, then why are they fighting?!"

X scowled. "Are you really that blind?! Isn't it obvious?! They're fighting for you, Marduk!"

Marduk flinched.

"Can't you see?!," X asked. "When they chose to fight, they chose to fight for you, because they believe in you! They aren't fighting to die, but live in the united world that you promised them!" He pointed out the glass window at the battle. "You're blaming Lina for that?! It wasn't her fault, Marduk! You're the one that led them all to this very moment! Isn't that true?!"

"For me?," Marduk asked. "All… for me?"

"It's sad," said X. "It's really sad. They all love you, and you don't even know it. Right now they're dying by the hundreds for your sake, and you don't even recognize it."

A realization suddenly hit Marduk, something he hadn't counted on.

His men…

Wreck was always wild, but he never stopped advising Marduk on how to attack, and even when he did something out of line, he always told Marduk, even if it was after the fact.

And Violet… she could have chosen to stop fighting if she wanted to.

And Trax… he was always impulsive, but loyal to a fault.

Lina…

"Oh no," Marduk said, standing up. "What have I done?"

"Do you see now, Marduk?," X asked.

Marduk couldn't bare to look up. He was looking at his hands. "This wasn't it," said Marduk. "This wasn't how it was supposed to go."

"Things never go our way," said X. "I know."

"This is all very touching," said Nightwolf. "But there are still bombardment stations to stop!"

"That's right!," said Lina. "Marduk, cancel the sequence!"

Marduk looked truly tragic.

"Marduk?," she asked.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm so sorry."

"What?," Ina asked.

A screen suddenly lit up in the middle of the room, showing Mackwell's smiling face.

"Hey there, Marduk," Mackwell said.

"Oh no," said X.


	11. True Colors

**CHAPTER 10**

**True Colors**

"Mackwell," said Marduk bitterly.

"Such a tone, Marduk," said Mackwell. "Aren't you glad to see me?"

"Tell us where you are and we'll show you just how glad we are to see you," said Nightwolf coldly.

"My my," said Mackwell. "Such hostilities."

"Where's Zero?," asked X.

"Oh, he's with me," said Mackwell. "Still sleeping, though, so you'll have to call another time." He looked at Marduk. "Anyway, you'll be happy to know that the bombardment stations are ready, and that I've taken full command."

"What?," asked Marduk.

"Your men had to be… relieved. They seemed a little on edge, you see."

"Mackwell!," said Marduk.

"You've been great, Marduk," said Mackwell. "Sure, some things went rather awry, but other than that everything went perfectly."

"What are you…?," asked Marduk.

"Now watch, Marduk," said Mackwell. "Watch from there as I begin the end of days."

"_Master Marduk!,_" said a voice from a nearby speaker. "_The O.B.S. have started their targeting sequence!_."

There was a collective gasp in the room.

"What are the targets?!," asked Marduk.

"_One of them is targeting the Capital City!_"

"No," said Ina.

"There's 10 million people living in that damn city!," said Nightwolf.

They all watched out the window in horror as the third bombardment station took aim at the Earth. A large, parabolic-antennae-like structure suddenly crackled red electricity, and fired a large red beam at the Earth.

"M-Mr. President!," said a bodyguard. "We have to escape!"

"And go where, exactly?," asked the president. "Were on the highest floor of the highest building in the city, and the rooftop chopper doesn't move fast enough. We'd still get caught in the blast."

He stood up from his long back chair, looked out the window behind him, that showed most of the city, and sighed. "All I ever wanted to do was prove that humans could be strong too, and yet all I did was further prove our weakness, giving in to Mackwell's demands like a fool."

The sky suddenly glowed red, and his bodyguards ran out of the office in a panic. The president looked up calmly at the sky. "It looks like it's up to you again… X."

The beam struck his building directly, instantly pulverizing the structure. The explosion that followed engulfed the entire city, and after it, there was nothing but a wasteland, with a few building skeletons, but no survivors.

"Well, that takes care of that," said Mackwell.

Everyone was staring at that scorched part of the Earth in horror.

"Oh god," said Ina.

"All those people," said X.

"No," said Lina.

"Damn it, Mackwell!," said Marduk angrily. "Stop it!"

Mackwell laughed. "My, isn't this a sudden change of heart? Wasn't it you who wanted to extinguish life in the first place?"

Marduk flinched.

"Who cares?," asked Mackwell. "Now, for my second target."

The second O.B.S. moved and took aim at the combating fleets.

"Oh no!," said Marduk.

"Shit, the armada!," said Nightwolf. He spoke in his headset. "Colonel, do you copy?! Colonel!"

"What is it?," asked the Colonel.

"Get the hell out of there!," said Nightwolf. "One of the O.B.S. is targeting the armada!"

"What?!," asked the Colonel alarmed.

"Strikewind!," said Marduk.

"Understood!," responded Strikewind.

But it was too late. The O.B.S. fired, and there was no way that the fleets could get away in time.

"My god," said the Colonel as he watched the approaching beam.

"Forgive me, Master Marduk," said Strikewind. He took off his helmet and glared defiantly at the approaching doom. "I failed."

Both fleets were obliterated by the attack, with only a dozen ships still standing.

"Strikewind!," said Marduk in alarm. He glared furiously at Mackwell. "You'll pay for this, Mackwell!"

"Will I, now?," he asked. He laughed. "Why not guess where the next shot is headed for?"

Marduk gasped. The first O.B.S. changed direction and pointed straight at the colony.

"It's been nice knowing you," said Mackwell. "Give my best regards to Dr. Light in heaven." The screen faded.

"Lina," said Marduk. "Take the others and beam them to the 2nd O.B.S. That's where Mackwell is. Use the encrypted codes so the jammers won't block you."

"What about you?," asked Lina.

Marduk shook his head.

"I have to stop that beam from destroying the colony," he said.

"What?!," asked X. "But how are you going to do that?!"

Marduk chuckled. "You'll see," he said with a kind smile. "Please Lina."

Lina seemed hesitant, but finally nodded.

"Let's go," she told the others.

They nodded and followed. X remained in the room.

"Are you sure?," he asked.

Marduk nodded. "I failed to protect someone once," he said. "Someone very dear to me. All I could do to protect her was harm her, so that others wouldn't kill her, but that was a mistake." He took the pearl necklace from his wrist and gave it to X.

"Please, give this to her," said Marduk. "And tell her I'm sorry… for everything."

X nodded, and dashed out of the room after the others. Marduk jumped through the window into space. He faced the O.B.S. with a defiant expression. The O.B.S. fired. Marduk noticed that the silver faceplate was floating beside him. He took it and latched it on.

"Let's do this," he said. He took out his turrets and waited. He charged them to max as the beam got closer. "I failed once," he said. "But I'll never betray their trust again." He was ready. "Never again!"

He fired from his turrets a beam so large it rivaled the O.B.S. The lasers connected and were caught in a deadlock. Marduk could feel his body overheat. He was actually starting to produce smoke in space.

"I… won't…" he said weakly. A W and an L shone brightly in his forehead. "…fail!"

The extra burst of energy he shot managed not to push back the beam, but change it's course. It flew off aimlessly into space, no more a threat to his colony than the Earth. Marduk smiled inside his mask. He could feel his body shutting down.

He looked at the Earth. "I guess… this'll be the last time I'll see you." He laughed. "How… peculiar." He looked into space and closed his eyes. "X… be careful of Zero…"

Axl was panting hard as he hid behind another capsule. The battle had gone on for so long simply because the Firestorm Brothers had been toying with him, or so he thought. He simply couldn't get a clear shot at them among these capsules, and when he did, it was always just one of them, so the other would pop up from nowhere and try to attack his vulnerable spots. These two seemed to rely a lot on teamwork, and many of there attacks showed it.

Suddenly, the capsule he was hiding behind burst, and Tigerflame and Tigerwind were both above Axl now, both swinging their claws in unison. Axl dashed back to avoid them. Their claws cut into the ground. They both did a front flip at the same time and kicked him in the chest. He was sent crashing through more capsules. He landed heavily on the ground. He stood up shakily. The Firestorm Brothers approached him.

"How weak," said Tigerwind.

"Yeah, bro," said Tigerflame. "I kinda hoped it'd be more challenging…"

"… but it was just a waste of time," finished Tigerwind.

"Let's finish this!," said Tigerflame.

_Damn it!, _thought Axl. _Come on, think! There has to be a way to catch them off guard. If only I could break that teamwork of theirs, then maybe--_?_ Wait, that's it!_

"Firewind Tempest!," the brothers shouted.

They combined a flamethrower technique with a horizontal tornado to shoot a vortex of fire at Axl. He dashed aside to avoid it and fired, hitting Tigerflame on the shoulder.

"Are you alright, brother?," asked Tigerwind.

"Yeah, it was just a scrape," said Tigerflame. "Bastard got lucky."

"Let's go after him," said Tigerwind.

"Right, we'll split up," said Tigerflame. "We'll catch him in a pincer move."

Tigerwind nodded and dashed amongst the capsules, out of sight. Tigerflame went the other way. After a short while Tigerwind found himself face to face with Tigerflame .

"Brother?," asked Tigerwind. "What is it?"

Tigerflame suddenly charged, shouting "Flame Claw!"

Tigerwind dashed back and was barely scraped by the attack. Tigerflame pulled out a gun and fired, saying "Copy shot!"

Tigerwind got hit on the leg. Tigerflame jumped back into the capsules. From the other side came another Tigerflame, and Tigerwind was sure that it was his brother this time.

"What happened?," asked Tigerflame.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!," said Tigerwind angrily. "I didn't think we had to deal with a copy reploid!"

"A… copy reploid?," asked Tigerflame. "But I thought they weren't mass produced yet!"

"No," said Tigerwind. "But there are a few out there. Even the government has them. Still, I didn't think that Maverick Hunter HQ would have one as a member."

"But if that's true, and he is a copy reploid," said Tigerflame, panic in his voice. "Then… bro!" A sudden and terrible gust of wind blew the brothers apart. Tigerflame crashed through various capsules before finally stopping. He stood up and saw Tigerwind standing not too far from him.

"Is that you, bro?," asked Tigerflame.

Tigerwind fired a tornado from the palm of his hand and sent Tigerflame flying. Tigerwind followed him, using the tornado to gain altitude. He got above Tigerflame and kicked him on the back, sending him screaming at the ground. Tigerflame made a considerably large crater. He shakily stood up. Tigerwind was suddenly looking at him with worry.

"Brother, are you alright?," he asked nervously.

Tigerflame, suddenly overcome with panic, attacked, shouting "Flame Claw!"

His now-burning claws went right through the shocked Tigerwind.

"Huh?," asked Tigerflame.

"Oh… brother," said Tigerwind, looking at his brother with deep sadness. His eyes lost color, and he fell dead on his knees.

"Oh no," said Tigerflame, grabbing his brother's shoulders and shaking him. "H-hey, bro, wake up! Bro! Bro!"

He heard the cocking of a gun behind him. Axl was now standing behind him, back to normal, his face emotionless, with his gun trained on Tigerflame's head.

"Give up," said Axl. "It's over."

"You made me kill my bro," said Tigerflame, shaking with anger. He suddenly turned on Axl and lunged at him. "I'll kill you!"

Axl fired. The impacts of bullet against metallic skull made Tigerflame's body do a back flip. He fell face-first on the ground, dead.

Axl's reserve squad finally entered the chamber.

"I'm sorry, sir!," said the Sergeant. "We were…lost." He looked around at the wrecked chamber. "Did the charges already explode?"

"No," said Axl. His face was expressionless. He looked around the ruined chamber and at his fallen men. "Let's go."

He left the lab and went outside. One of the soldiers finally pressed a switch, and the entire lab exploded. Smoke was coming out of the entrance.

"That's it, then," said the sergeant.

Axl remained quiet.

"Excuse me, sir," said the sergeant.

"Hmm?," asked Axl.

He saw, to his surprise, his remaining squad give him a military salute.

"You did great, sir," said the sergeant. "We're proud to have fought under you."

The other soldiers voiced their agreements.

Axl smiled. "Thanks guys," he said. He looked up at the sky. "Now we just wait for everyone to come home."

**O.B.S. 2**

X and the others continued their journey inside the O.B.S., this time led by Nightwolf, who knew the place like the back of his hand.

"How much longer?!," asked Ina impatiently. "We have to get to Mackwell before he fries the Earth!"

"Don't worry," said Nightwolf. "We have another thirty minutes before he can fire again. The O.B.S. were built with an automatic fail-safe for precisely these kinds of situations."

"Even so, we have to stop Mackwell fast," said X. "I'd hate to think he could override that fail-safe if he had the time."

"You know, even if we get to Mackwell, the O.B.S. will still fire," said Nightwolf. "They were made to execute commands after every thirty minutes."

"I can handle that," said Lina. "I can reprogram the O.B.S. by hacking into the mainframe with my wires."

"Well, aren't you useful?," asked Nightwolf, impressed. Lina nodded, and actually smiled.

They were suddenly halted by a hail of bullets coming from the enemy in front of them. They counterattacked brutally, and the resistance was destroyed in a matter of seconds. As they dashed past the dead, Nightwolf halted immediately, having made a startling discovery.

"What is it?," X asked, who stopped beside him.

Nightwolf was kneeling beside one of the bodies. "These aren't reploids," he said as he held up an arm.

"What?!," asked Ina.

"They're mechanized humans," said Nightwolf after inspecting the body closely. "Sort of like you, but apparently they had a more thorough and complete job. They were barely human anymore."

"Damn," said Ina.

"So Mackwell's dragging everyone into this, huh?," asked X. "We have to stop him."

Nightwolf nodded, and once again led the way. As they continued to dash down another wide hallway, Nightwolf noticed a red haired female reploid stand in their way, her Japanese parasol held like a sword. The group stopped.

"That's Mary," said X.

"Go," said Nightwolf.

"What?"

"I said go. I'll hold her back."

"But--," said X, but Nightwolf interrupted.

"Don't worry," he said. "I won't die because of her. Besides," he took out his poleaxe. "This is a personal matter, and I'd rather not have anyone interfere."

X looked hesitant, but finally relented. "All right. Just be careful."

"Of course," said Nightwolf. "Take the western hallway and then go directly north. That should lead you to the main control room."

"Right," said X. He and Ina dashed down another hall. Now it was just Nightwolf and Mary.

"It's nice to finally meet you," said Mary, bowing slightly. Her sweet voice hid a deep malevolence. "I've always wanted to meet the Black Death."

"Flattering," said Nightwolf. "Now you're about to see what happens to those who mess with Death's friends." He charged, swinging his poleaxe down at Mary. Mary blocked his pole axe with her parasol and held him back with minimal effort.

"Friends, you say?," asked Mary with a raised eyebrow. Nightwolf found her sweet smile to be very disturbing considering the circumstance. "Are you saying the General was a friend and not a superior?" She pushed him back.

"He was more than a superior to me," said Nightwolf. "He was a reploid of great strength and dignity, that demanded and got my respect. But more importantly, he was the first one to recognize me as Nightwolf, and not as Vile's unfortunate shadow."

"I see," she said. "I will admit he was strong, but unfortunately for him, not strong enough."

"Yeah, I saw your battle with him," said Nightwolf. He got back into a fighting stance. "You're so weak you couldn't kill him when he was facing you. You had to stab him in the back."

"Weak?," asked Mary. She laughed. Even her laughter sounded innocent. "It looks like I'll have to teach you a lesson Mr. Wolf." She charged Nightwolf, and Nightwolf countered.

Strikewind flew in space towards the colony. He had miraculously survived the O.B.S. attack, although not unscathed. He had lost his helmet and an arm. Even so, he was anxious to see if everyone was alright at the colony. To his horror, he saw Marduk float lifelessly in space. He flew towards his leader and grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Master Marduk," said Strikewind.

"S-strikewind?," asked Marduk weakly.

Strikewind let out a sigh of relief. "You're alright."

"Barely," said Marduk. "I'm too weak to move. I'm afraid here is where I die."

"No," said Strikewind. "I won't allow it."

"What are you doing?," asked Marduk as he watched Strikewind's hand suddenly open in two. It revealed a small needle that was connect to a small, glowing container.

"That's your power supply!," said Marduk alarmed.

"Please, Master Marduk, hold still," said Strikewind. He inserted the needle in the back of Marduk's neck. Marduk suddenly felt an upsurge of power. In a matter of minutes he was completely recovered. Strikewind removed the needle, although now he was very weak.

"Strikewind!," said Marduk alarmed, grabbing his second-in-command to stop him from floating away.

"T-that's all I have," said Strikewind. "I-I'm glad it s-sufficed."

"No," said Marduk. "Hold on, Strikewind!"

Strikewind shook his head. "You h-have to go to the… O.B.S. and… h-help everyone." He pointed at his wings. "Y-you can d-detach these and put them on y-yourself."

"Strikewind," Marduk said sadly.

"J-just do m-me a favor, eh?," said Strikewind with a small smile. "T-tell L-Lina I'm s-sorry…" His eyes lost color as he lost the last of his reserves, and he died. Marduk remained in respectful silence for a minute.

"I will, my friend," he said somberly. "I promise."


	12. Destiny

**CHAPTER 11**

**Destiny**

X, Lina and Ina continued their uninterrupted dash through the halls, just as Nightwolf had instructed. When they passed the final door they came into a room the size of a half-court. They looked around in confusion.

"Was this here before?," asked X.

"This wasn't anywhere in the O.B.S. blueprints," said Lina.

"That's because I built it," said Mackwell suddenly.

He was standing in front of the door at the other end of the room, standing tall and confident.

"Mackwell!," said X.

"I'd love to mess around with you for awhile, X," said Mackwell, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "But there are far more pressing matters to attend to. In the meantime, you'll have to entertain yourselves with these new playmates."

Suddenly multiple beams appeared in front of Mackwell, and the entire R.L.F. hierarchy materialized in front of them; Wreck, Violet, Trax, the Firestorm Bros., Swordsman, even Strikewind.

"See how you can handle these copies," said Mackwell. "They have everything the original ones had, except for the emotions." He waved at the trio and left the room. The door closed behind him.

"Ah, crap!," said Ina. "We'll waste too much time if we deal with them now!"

"And the O.B.S. will be ready to fire soon!," said Lina.

"We don't have a choice," said X. "We'll have to fight through them."

"You shouldn't," said Marduk.

His sudden appearance startled the three, who were certain he was dead. More surprising was seeing him drop Strikewind's wings from his back.

"But how--?," asked Lina.

"Strikewind saved me," said Marduk. "X, leave them to me. You don't have the time to waste fighting them now."

"But Marduk," said X.

"Please X," Marduk said. "This is the only way I can make amends for what I've done, for my mistakes."

"Thank you, Marduk," said X.

Marduk nodded. He looked at Ina. He seemed to want to say something, but once again remained silent. He turned instead to Lina.

"I'm sorry, Lina," said Marduk. "And thank you, for always believing in me."

"Master Marduk," said Lina shakily.

"Please, just Marduk," said Marduk, patting her head and smiling kindly. "You know I don't like being called 'Master.'"

Lina nodded. She sniffed loudly and managed a sad smile. "Right. Take care, Marduk"

"Now go, all of you," said Marduk as he faced the copies of his former comrades. He took out his claws. "I'll hold them off." He charged. All the others charged at him, leaving the door wide open. X and the other two dashed past the door without looking back. Marduk smiled under his mask. He was holding everyone's fists and weapons with his arms.

"And now," he said. He spread out his arms and knocked them all back. "Come and get me!" They all charged again. As they got nearer, many thoughts raced through Marduk's mind.

He had once told Dr. Light that he wasn't angry at the humans, but now he realized he was lying to himself.

_I was angry_, he thought as dodged Wreck's massive fists. He ran up his arm and cut off his head. Wreck's body fell limply on the floor. _I was angry because I felt betrayed._ Violet multiplied herself, and Marduk destroyed all the holograms and Violet herself with his shoulder cannons.

_The humans had betrayed me, even after all the sacrifices I had made, all the friends I had lost. _He dodged Swordsman's swings and kicked him back. Strikewind flew from behind him and rammed in on the back with his shoulder, knocking him to the ground. He stood up. _I blinded myself into thinking that I fought for a just cause, when all I really wanted was revenge._

He blocked Trax's shots with his arms and punched back Tigerflame. Tigerwind grabbed him in mid-air and they both stood facing Marduk. He found himself surrounded. _And because of my blindness, I sacrificed so many. I sacrificed those that believed in me, oblivious to the truth._ Trax charged him. Marduk sidestepped his charge and cut Trax down. Trax exploded.

"Not anymore," he said. "With this, I will make my amends." He faced the remaining enemies. Memories of Ina suddenly came to mind. Back at that island, back at that failure of self. "I'll never sacrifice another life, be it human or reploid, for my goals! From now on, if anyone will die, it'll be me!" They all charged at him.

X, Ina, and Lina entered a very large and empty room. It was half the size of a football field, and the ceiling was so high up it seemed nonexistent.

"What the hell?," asked Ina. The door behind them closed down and an automatic lock could be heard securing it.

"Where's the control room?," asked Lina.

"Over there!," said X, pointing at the lone door on the eastern side.

"Why hello there, X," said Mackwell, who had appeared apparently from nowhere to stand in the middle of the large chamber. "I gotta admit, I didn't think Marduk would actually survive and come to help you."

"Damn it," said Ina. The trio got their guard up.

"Well, Lina, what are you waiting for?," asked Mackwell. "Aren't you supposed to stop the countdown?"

"What?," asked Lina.

"The control room's right there," said Mackwell. "If you can stop the countdown from here, then all the O.B.S. will stop."

"Why are you telling us this?," asked X.

"Because I know," said Mackwell with an arrogant smile.

"Know what?," asked Ina.

"That no matter how hard Lina tries, she'll never make it."

"We'll see," said X. "Go," he told Lina. "You can stop it. I know you can."

Lina nodded and dashed into the control room. Inside, she took out her wires and got them through the consoles into the mainframe. Now inside the computer, she began to hack the extremely difficult encryption codes. Now even she wasn't sure that she could make it.

_But I have to try, _she thought determinedly.

"What do you hope to gain from all this?," X asked Mackwell.

"Not hope, X, but will."

"What?"

"It's really quite simple. It's Marduk's dream, but much grander. I plan to ensure the future of both Reploidkind and Humankind."

"By destroying them?!," asked Ina disgusted. "Just what kind of future is that?!"

"Evolution has always followed destruction," said Mackwell. "When the dinosaurs ended, the mammals were free to evolve and expand. I plan to do the same. With humans and reploids gone, the world will be free to accept its new future."

"What are you talking about?," asked Ina.

"Your arm, Ina," said Mackwell. "Your arm is an example of this new future. Your arm is the pinnacle of all my work. I discovered that humans could never evolve more than we already are; we've reached the peak of our evolution. The same truth applies to reploids; the awakening of a conscious and the power to choose freely is the peak of reploid evolution. The only way for both to continue forward is through the interchanging of parts. The organic parts in the reploids takes them one step closer to achieving humanity, while the mechanical parts will allow us humans to reach unprecedented levels of physical and mental abilities."

"But killing off the entire world isn't the answer!," said X. "You can't toy with billions of lives just because you think it's the proper step for evolution!"

Mackwell scoffed. "You really are Dr. Light's creation, aren't you?"

"What?"

"He said the exact same thing." Mackwell began to glow an eerie white light. A mysterious wind that seemed to come from him made his lab coat flutter wildly. "I was hoping you'd understand better, but it seems Light did a better job on you than I hoped."

Ina fired, interrupting the tense atmosphere. Mackwell smiled. He placed his right hand in front of him and sent an EMP1 shockwave. The missile suddenly bucked and struck the wall behind him, exploding harmlessly.

"Did you really think it would be that easy?," asked Mackwell. "I built the damn arm you're using, and that launcher." He clenched his fists and charged. "Didn't you think I'd use that same technology on myself?!"

He jumped up high in the air and fell like a missile on top of the duo. The two jumped out of the way as Mackwell's foot crashed right into the floor. X fired. Mackwell dodged the shots as he charged for X. He kicked X under the chin and sent him airborne. He grabbed his foot and tossed him against the wall. He launched another EMP wave that sent X screaming through the wall. Ina charged behind him, her right arm raised and her veins throbbing. Mackwell did a simple sidestep and grabbed Ina's right arm. He placed his middle and index fingers into her arm joint. Ina suddenly stopped. She began to make choking sounds.

"I built this weakness into the joint too, you know," he said with his sardonic smile. "Right now I blocked off two arteries from the rest of you body. You'll choke on your own blood in a matter of minutes."

Ina coughed out blood just as he finished this sentence. Then, suddenly, a buster shot went right through Mackwell. Circuits, blood, and gore splattered all over Ina. Mackwell looked back in shock, letting go of Ina.

"D-damn it," said Mackwell. "H-how did you survive the… EMP?"

"Did you forget?," X asked, and he smiled confidently. "I'm Maverick Hunter X."

Mackwell took four staggering steps back. Lina ran out of the control room.

"X, we have a problem!," said Lina. "I can't deactivate the O.B.S. from here!"

"What?!" asked X.

Mackwell laughed weakly. "D-did you… really think I'd… let something that simple… just slip?" He shook his head. "You… ran past your… only chance… a while ago."

They all remained silently puzzled for a moment, then gasped. The same thought went through their heads. _Mary!_

"Mackwell!," X said angrily.

Mackwell laughed. "You're… running… out of time. Mary… is too s-strong to… lose against… Nightwolf."

"Why don't you just shut up and die?!," said a furious Ina.

"Me… die?" Mackwell laughed even louder. He spread out his legs a little and stretched his arms to either side. "Me?! A living god?!"

His glow brightened to such an extent that they were actually blinded. Mackwell began to transform. His glasses shattered to pieces. His eyes began to turn entirely blue. A cruel and sleek-looking reploid armor burst from within his skin. His face was covered with a helmet that had demonic looking horns. His fingers became sharp metallic claws. Mackwell laughed maniacally.

"What the hell are you?!," asked Ina.

"I am the one that will lead the new era!," said Mackwell. "My new species shall dominate the world, just as nature intended it!" His chest plate opened, revealing a small, blue orb. "Now die, you relics of the past!" Mackwell fired a large, blue beam of energy straight for the trio. X stood in front of the others and summoned a bubble of energy that covered the three of them. A large explosion that rocked the O.B.S. occurred. The smoke cleared, and Mackwell scoffed. "Of course," he said.

X was standing unscathed in front of the other two.

"That was Swordsman's power," said Lina. "The Bubble Shield."

"I should have known," said X. "You're just another megalomaniac that thinks he alone can change the world!"

"You just don't understand, X!," said Mackwell. "It is people like myself that have the only right to rule the world! Those who are willing to achieve their vision by whatever means! This is my destiny! Light could have become part of this destiny, he could have shared this glorious moment, but he was too soft! He relied too much on an individual's personal ability to learn and evolve!" He pointed at X. "You are the embodiment of that naïve dream! Destroying you will be the herald of my new age!" He charged X. He swung down his claws at him. Just as he did though, Marduk dashed from the other room and kicked him back. Mackwell flipped and landed on his feet.

"You're okay!," said X.

"You didn't really think I'd lose against my own underlings, did you? Especially bad copies of them?"

"Guess not," said X with a smile.

"Now, I believe you were fighting Mackwell before I came," said Marduk.

"Yeah," said X, now staring at Mackwell. Even though they couldn't see his face, they could tell quite clearly from his eyes that he was boiling with rage.

"When will any of you understand?!," asked Mackwell. "You can't win!"

"If I had a dime for every time I heard that," said X. He fired a charged shot as Marduk charged.

Mackwell summoned an electromagnetic shield that deflected the beam. He blocked Marduk's claws with his own. He slashed at Marduk ferociously. Marduk almost danced around Mackwell to avoid being cut by the claws. X fired again. Mackwell jumped out of the way. Marduk jumped after Mackwell. They both got caught in close-combat midair. Ina fired a missile. Mackwell kicked Marduk back and fired at the missile with his orb beam. X dashed towards Ina and took her to safety, away from the blast. Lina used her wires and wrapped them around Mackwell, then pulled down and slammed him against the ground. Marduk dropped on Mackwell, his left fist drawn back with his claws out. He punched down and hit only ground as Mackwell rolled out of the way. Mackwell got back up and fired small, multiple missiles at everybody from his back. They all dashed to dodge them.

"Damn it!," said Ina.

"He's so strong it's unbelievable!," said Lina alarmed.

"We still have to try!," said Marduk. "We can't let him get away with the deaths of so many people!"

"That's right!," said X. "No matter how long it takes, we will defeat him!"

Mackwell laughed. "You're all too much, really. You should know by now." He shouted furiously, "YOU CAN'T WIN!!!" He dashed towards them again.

Nightwolf stood a good distance from Mary. The entire hallway was slashed almost to ribbons because of their fight. Nightwolf had felt the O.B.S. shake twice already, and he was worried that something might have happened to the others. Mary was, on the other hand, calmly approaching him, holding her parasol like a sword.

"This was a lot of fun," said Mary with her disturbing sweetness and serenity. "But I'm afraid I have to end this battle now. I need to go back to Mackwell."

"You won't go anywhere so long as I'm alive," said Nightwolf.

"I know," said Mary, and she suddenly dashed towards Nightwolf.

Nightwolf slashed at Mary's neck with his pole axe, but she had already ducked under his attack. She turned her parasol around and drew out a hidden laser blade from the other end of her parasol, cutting open Nightwolf's abdomen. She then opened her mouth and fired a powerful red beam of energy that went right through Nightwolf. He slid back a good five feet, but amazingly, he remained standing.

"It's over for you, Mr. Wolf," said Mary with her sweet smile.

Nightwolf began to laugh.

"What's so funny?," asked Mary.

"I see now," he said. He laughed again. "You really are a weakling."

"What?"

"An attack that weak could never have killed the general." He looked up at her with contempt. "Never."

"What are you--?" She gasped. Nightwolf's wounds were healing rapidly, until he looked brand new. "No."

"So tell me," said Nightwolf. "Just what is Mackwell anyway?"

Mary blinked.

"There's no way he can be Giovanni's son," said Nightwolf. "So who is he?"

Mary shook her head. "He is Giovanni's son," said Mary.

"The hell he is," said Nightwolf. "He was born after Jason died."

Mary smiled. "Did you forget that the corpses were never really found?," she asked.

"What?"

"Giovanni is the son of Jason Mackwell. When he was born, he was kept hidden from the public for a long time."

"Why?," Nightwolf asked.

"Because no one would have understood his existence," said Mary.

"What?"

"Giovanni is the very embodiment of Jason's beliefs. From birth he was fused with reploid technology through the use of forbidden science. Since his appearance would have shocked the world, he was left in a tank until his skin fused with the rest of his body."

"And you?," Nightwolf asked.

"I was created to be his mother," said Mary. "It's why I was created in his biological mother's image."

"Why would Jason experiment on his own son?," Nightwolf asked. "If you ask me, that's not exactly real parenting."

Mary chuckled. "He is what he is because he has been chosen to lead the new world."

"The new world, huh?," Nightwolf asked.

"Yes, a world of beings just like him," said Mary. "Our species will finally evolve, and Mackwell will be the head of this new future, and I shall stand by his side in the shadows as his guardian."

"What a load of crap," said Nightwolf.

"What?," Mary asked.

"I've had it up to here with all this philosophy," Nightwolf said annoyed. "Evolution, destiny, beliefs." He scoffed. "It's all worthless in the end."

Mary flinched.

"What all of you radicals always seem to forget is that X is alive," Nightwolf said, getting into his fighting stance. "His entire existence is based entirely on destroying psychopaths like you. So long as he lives, you will never succeed."

"Bastard," said Mary, her face suddenly losing some of its serenity.

"Now come, Little Red Riding Hood," said Nightwolf. "Come to the big, bad wolf."

Mary charged again, and slashed off his helmet. What she saw made her want to scream.

Under his helmet was a metallic skull, shaped exactly like a human skull. He had two eyes, though only the left one glowed red. He had razor sharp metallic teeth. He leered at Mary. He looked like he had a permanent smile in his face.

"Surprised?," he asked.

Mary was shaking with fear. "Y-you monster!" She made to attack again, but Nightwolf grabbed both her arms and ripped them out. She let out a scream as blood oil drained from her arms and body. Nightwolf grabbed her by the throat and lifted her high.

"Do you know how the story of Little Red Riding Hood ended?," asked Nightwolf. He opened his mouth, his teeth gleaming menacingly. Mary let out a shriek of terror as Nightwolf bit down on her neck.

The group was lying around Mackwell after he had unleashed a shockwave attack that knocked them back. They all shakily stood up. Mackwell growled in frustration.

"When will you give it a break?," asked Mackwell. "It's obvious at this point that you won't win!"

"No," said X. "If we can still fight, we can still win."

Mackwell growled. "You stubborn bastards."

"Hey," said Lina. "It stopped."

"What stopped?," asked Marduk from the other side.

"The countdown," said Lina. "It's already past the time limit, and it hasn't fired."

"What?!," asked Mackwell. She was right of course, but he hadn't noticed till now. "Mary!," he called in his headset. No response. "Mary, answer me, damn it!"

"That's our win," said Marduk.

"It looks like it," said X.

"Mary!," called Mackwell desperately, ignoring them. Suddenly the door hissed open, and Nightwolf entered, holding his pole axe in his right hand and another, more shocking item in his left.

"I'm afraid she won't answer you," said Nightwolf. He lifted her head, which he was holding in his left hand. "I'm afraid she left _ahead_ of things."

"Mary," said Mackwell in horror. Nightwolf threw the head at Mackwell, which landed on his feet. Mackwell picked it up and pressed it against his chest.

"She was a good girl," said Nightwolf. "Good enough to eat," he added maliciously, his left eye glowing brightly.

"No," Mackwell sobbed. "Mary, you were supposed to be my guardian. You were supposed to live for me." He remembered how Mary always watched over him back when he was still a child and was unable to go out to the world. She was the only one to ever show him true kindness. He felt an upsurge of anger and hatred inside of him just then.

"Damn it, that's just wrong," said Ina.

"You think this is funny?!," asked Mackwell furiously, who was holding Mary's head close to his chest. "You bitch?!"

He fired his claws at her. Everyone was taken by surprise. Marduk did the first thing that came to mind. He dashed at high speed, and stood in front of the incoming claws, facing Ina. The claws all struck him in the back and almost came out the other way. Ina looked up in horror.

"Marduk!," she said. Then she noticed something. It something that brought her back to the C sector tragedy.

When she was looking at Marduk's face, she had thought he was expressionless. But then she remembered something. There had been something shining in his eyes.

_Tears._

"I'm… glad," he said, tears rolling down his face. "I was… finally able… to protect… you."

"Marduk," said Ina.

"I'm… sorry… Ina," he said, finally saying what he couldn't tell her long ago. "I'm… sorry… I wasn't there… to protect you before. All… I did… was hurt you… more."

"No," said Lina.

"Good… bye… Ina." His mask fell off his face, revealing a sad smile. Mackwell reconnected with his claws behind Marduk and slashed him to pieces.

"Marduk!," screamed Ina.

"Die," said Mackwell. "Die, and take all your ideals with you."

Lina threw her wires and wrapped them around Mackwell's arms. Nightwolf charged and slashed his chest plate, revealing the orb that he had been hidden. The impact also turned him around facing X.

"Now!," shouted Nightwolf.

X fired a fully charged blast that struck the orb squarely in the middle. Mackwell screamed in pain and was sent back flying. When he collided against the wall, there was a tremendous explosion. Everyone waited with tense silence. Then, to their shock, Mackwell came out. He was clearly in bad shape, as his armor was cracked in various places and he was crackling electricity. His orb was gone, and a big gaping hole was all that remained.

"If… I can't… realize… my father's dream…" Said a dying Mackwell. "Then… I'll take you all… with me!" He suddenly glowed red, and the same gust of wind from before the transformation began to blow from him.

"He's self-destructing!," said Lina in alarm. X quickly aimed his buster at Mackwell.

"What are you going to do?!," asked Mackwell. "If you shoot me, the sudden shock might trigger the bomb! I don't doubt that you'll survive the explosion, but the others won't!" He laughed maniacally.

"Damn it!," said Nightwolf.

"What do I do?," asked X, his X-buster shaking. "If I fire, I could kill everyone here, and yet if I don't…"

_If he didn't, the explosion could send the entire colony hurtling towards the Earth, and judging by the size of the O.B.S., whatever landmass this hits will be gone for good_, thought Nightwolf. _Damn that Mackwell._

_"I want to be myself again," said Zero suddenly._

_"Hmm?," asked the voice._

_It took Zero a lot of soul-searching, but he finally came to the conclusion that it was worse to remain incomplete and having to deal with his other self constantly than becoming whole again and choosing a different path… if he could._

_"I said I want to be myself again," said Zero._

_"And you're certain of this decision?," asked the voice._

_"I am," Zero said determinedly._

_The voice chuckled. "I knew I could count on you, Zero," he said. Black Zero suddenly appeared in front of Zero._

_"About time," said Black. "I was getting bored."_

_"So how do we do this?," asked Zero._

_Black Zero just smiled. "Just relax," he said. He began to vanish. "It'll come on its own."_

_Zero suddenly felt an upsurge of power and freedom he had forgotten a long time ago. And with it came memories of his past, and the identity of the voice._

_"Rockman," said Zero._

"The clock is ticking!," shouted Mackwell, laughing maniacally.

X was still indecisive. _What should I do?_, he wondered again.

Suddenly, an alarm rang all around the O.B.S. Someone had activated the self-destruct sequence.

"But who?," asked Mackwell. A hidden door suddenly hissed open, and everyone watched Zero dash out of the door straight for Mackwell.

"It can't be!," said Mackwell.

Zero drew out his beam saber and slashed at Mackwell. It took two seconds for Mackwell to fall in two halves. He looked up at Zero weakly.

"Amazing," he said, a manic smile in his newly revealed face. "He was able to recover his original form so quickly." He closed his eyes. "This is… the true Zero. This is… Absolute… Zero." He exhaled one last time, and died.

"Zero!," X said happily, but his smile faltered as soon he saw Zero's unfamiliar eyes. He understood immediately. He talked to the others. "Everyone, leave!"

"What?," asked Ina.

"You have to go. Beam back to HQ if you can, but leave!"

"What about you?," Ina asked.

"I can't go," said X. Everyone looked back at Zero and understood.

"All right," said Nightwolf. "But don't you dare die on me." He pointed at X. "I might not let Vile influence me anymore, but that doesn't change anything. I _will _destroy your legend."

X nodded, and actually smiled. "I'll take you on anytime you want, Nightwolf."

Nightwolf remained silently impressed by this response. "Hmm," was all he could say in return. He turned to the others. "Let's go!," he said, and dashed out of the room, followed by Lina.

"Ina," said X. She turned and caught a pearl tied to a string that X had thrown at her. "Marduk told me to give you that earlier."

Ina looked at it silently for a moment, then closed her hand around it. "Thank you," she said. "Don't you dare die on us, X! We still need you at HQ!"

"Right!," said X. Ina dashed out of the chamber. He turned to Zero.

**Maverick Hunter HQ**

The entire headquarters was a buzz of activity. There had been reports that various transport beams had arrived just outside, and they all wanted to see if it was X. Axl was in front of the mob that accumulated outside. To his dismay, he found only Nightwolf, Ina, and an unknown reploid.

"What happened?," asked Axl. "Where's X and Zero?"

The three simply looked up.

"You mean, they're still there?," asked Axl, also looking up.

Ina suddenly coughed out blood and fell.

"Ina!," said the pink haired reploid, who caught her before she hit the ground. So did Axl. They're eyes met. They remained in a stunned silence for a moment.

"Who… are you?," asked Axl, sounding as though he were dazed.

"Lina," she said. "And you?"

"I'm Axl," he responded.

Ina scratched her throat loudly, shaking them off their trance.

"How about a little help, eh?," she asked annoyed. The last thing she needed was to die because a couple of love-struck reploids wouldn't take her to the infirmary fast enough.

"R-right!," said Axl. "I'll take you to the infirmary!"

"I'll come with you!," said Lina. Axl didn't object; quite the contrary, he almost seemed overjoyed.

They both dashed past Signas, who had just arrived.

"What was that about?," he asked.

"The usual," said Nightwolf, crossing his arms.

"Will X be alright?," Signas asked.

Nightwolf chuckled. "Of course he will," he said. He looked up at the sky, in the direction where he knew the O.B.S. was, where he knew the source of all his hatred and respect now fought for his life. "After all, legends never die."

1 EMP- Electro Magnetic Pulse- capable of messing with anything that might have an electric circuit on it.


	13. Sacrifice

**CHAPTER 11**

**Sacrifice**

O.B.S. number 2 was abuzz with panicky activity. The base's personnel all went as fast as they could to the evacuation shuttles. Those that could beam out did. It was obvious to everyone that the whole station was going to explode, and nobody wanted to be there when the fireworks started. Nobody wanted to be there, except X and Zero.

They both still stood facing each other inside the large chamber, ignoring the two dead individuals that so clearly laid on the floor.

"The self-destruct sequence doesn't just affect this O.B.S.," said Zero. "The other two orbital bombardment stations also received the same commands. This problem ends now."

"Zero," said X.

"I remember everything now," said Zero, clenching his fists and looking at them. "I remember who I was."

X remained silent.

"I did destroy Rockman," Zero said, now looking at X. "I tore him to pieces with my bare hands. I killed Bass as soon as I was activated. Even then I had problems with what I was, which led me to berserker episodes. I was deactivated because Wily wanted to see if he could fix that problem." He shook his head. "But I'll never be able to escape it."

"Why?," asked X.

"Because of you, X," said Zero. "No matter how hard I try, I can't escape my original programming. This conflict inside of me is what creates that berserker, that Black Zero."

"What are you saying?," asked X.

"The only way to end this is if one of us dies," said Zero.

"What?," asked X surprised.

"So long as you live, I cannot turn from what I am," said Zero. "And if I live, I remain a constant threat to the world."

"No," said X.

Zero closed his fists again and let out a loud yell. Suddenly, the same purple aura that had glowed around him when he fought Wreck glowed again. His armor turned dark purple. Demon wings sprouted from his back. Zero glared at X with determination.

"What is this?," asked X.

Zero got into his fighting stance. "Today, one legend dies." He charged X, moving so quickly it initially took X by surprise. Zero took advantage of the surprise and hit X with various punch-kick combos that sent the blue bomber reeling. X recovered and fired a charged shot. Zero blocked the shot with arms.

"I don't want to fight you, Zero!," said X.

"I do!," responded Zero. He charged again, this time hitting X with a sweep kick under his feet, making X lose his footing. X fell on his back on the floor. Zero then turned around and punched X hard on the stomach. Had it not been for the Ultimate Armor, the attack would have surely killed X. But the armor held, and X fired various shots at Zero's chest, each shot sending him airborne. The last shot was half-charged. This sent Zero flying against the wall. He recovered in midair and swooped down on X. X dashed aside as Zero punched the ground. The punch created a shockwave that pushed X back. Zero took the opportunity and landed another flurry of kicks at X's face. He finished with one final punch on the face. X slid back on his feet, but was able to stay afoot.

"Please, Zero," he said, spitting blood oil that had accumulated in his mouth. "You're not being yourself!"

"Wrong, X," said Zero as he approached X. "I've never been more myself in my life." He dashed towards X.

_No, _thought X. _You're wrong._

He dashed aside to dodge another punch from Zero and kicked him in the stomach. Zero reeled back. X fired another charged shot that definitely did some damage to Zero's armor. Zero didn't relent, however, counterattacking with a ferocious right hook on X's side that cracked his Ultimate Armor. He kneed X's face and sent him flying back. X did a flip on the air and fired again. Zero dashed towards X, sidestepping each shot, and did a roundhouse kick in midair. A long beam of energy shot from his foot that headed straight for X. X summoned the Bubble Shield and was able to protect himself. Zero charged again and grabbed X's cannon arm as soon as the shield went down. He slammed X against the ground. X in turn grabbed Zero's arm and slammed him against the ground. They both stood up and dashed from each other. Already the initial explosions of the self-destructing O.B.S. could be heard from far away.

**Maverick Hunter HQ**

Many watched with bated breath as the first O.B.S. exploded into space dust. Every single reploid in the HQ was inside the briefing room, watching the destruction of the O.B.S. in the new holoprojector that had been installed.

"I hope they're alright," said Lina.

"I just hope I don't get crushed by these idiots," said Axl. "Hey, make space, will ya?!"

He suddenly looked up at the grid at the sound of a second explosion, and saw that the third bombardment station exploded as well. The only one left was number 2.

_X, Zero, _he thought. _Be careful._

In the infirmary, Ina was alone, watching the ceiling. Her right arm had been removed for inspection, in case Mackwell had done something else to the arm that might be detrimental to her health. The doctors said she would get it back soon, but she didn't really care about that arm anyway, so it didn't bother her. She held the pearl she had tied around her neck with her left hand and closed her fingers around it tightly. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"They'll be fine," she said, looking again at the ceiling. "Won't they, Marduk?"

Nightwolf was standing outside against the wall beside the entrance of the HQ. He was looking up at the sky, his left eye glowing brightly.

"He won't die," he said to himself. "Legends like him can only die in the hands of people like us. Isn't that right, Vile?" He laughed.

**O.B.S. 2**

Most of the O.B.S. was already engulfed in flames and smoke. The station was already certain to explode. Even so, X's and Zero's fight continued with ferocity, each one matching blow for blow. By now, their armors had taken extremely heavy damage, and they had spent extraordinary amounts of energy against each other. And yet they continued, not losing their ferocity for one moment, because both knew that whoever showed a sign of fatigue first, died.

"Zero, stop!," X said for the umpteenth time. "This isn't like you!"

Zero, instead of responding, slammed his fists together against the ground, creating a shockwave that made X lose his footing. He then charged X. X fired at Zero and broke his charge. He stood up and fired various charged shots. Zero deflected each one and punched X hard on the face. X struck back with his cannon arm, knocking Zero back. They both stood facing each other, both severely weakened.

"Please, Zero," said X sadly. "Is this really how you want it all to end?"

"You asked me once to make a promise," said Zero. "A long time ago. You told me that if you ever became Maverick, that I would kill you."

X flinched.

"Even though things didn't necessarily turn out that way, I haven't forgotten," said Zero. "I'm the Maverick, and I will kill you, Maverick Hunter X."

X scowled. He aimed his buster at Zero and charged it to max. "Fine!," he said furiously. "If that's how you want it, then let's settle this once and for all!"

Zero charged. X waited till Zero was a few feet from him, then fired. An explosion sent a blast of smoke that hid both fighters and sent a large chunk of debris behind Zero fly straight for them. The beam of energy destroyed the metallic debris. When the smoke cleared, Zero's right hand had gone through X's chest. X's expression was peaceful, while Zero's face was wracked with confusion.

"You could have killed me," said Zero shakily.

"I know," said X. Zero drew his fist from X's chest. X fell on his knees.

"Why?," asked Zero.

"You said," X began weakly. "That if you killed me… then you would be free of… your program."

It was Zero's turn to flinch.

"If I die now," said X. "Then you won't… have to hurt… anyone… anymore. You'll be able… to choose."

"X," said Zero.

"I… don't think either of us… will get out of this alive… but at least… you can be Zero… again. You don't have… to feel guilty… anymore… Zero." His eyes lost color as his power reserves left him, and he fell on his face. Blood oil seeped from his wound. Zero kneeled beside him.

"To choose again," said Zero. He smiled sadly. Even though they were about to die, X sacrificed himself for him. It was just like him to do something like this. "To choose again," he repeated. "Thanks X. It looks like you saved me this time." The explosions engulfed both reploids, and the O.B.S. exploded into thousands of large chunks that went through the atmosphere and crashed harmlessly in the Sahara desert. The threat to the world was finally over.


	14. Epilogue

**EPILOGUE**

**Legends Never Die**

**Several months later, in the Sahara desert…**

Ina was talking to a group of reploids that made part of the search team. They had been searching for the last five months for any signs of X or Zero. Not necessarily alive.

Axl and Lina soon approached them in a dune buggy. Ina and various other Maverick Hunters had noticed the interesting relationship between Axl and their newest member. They had become good friends very quickly, although many suspected that this 'friendship' might be more than meets the eye.

As for Ina herself, she had her right arm back. She was reluctant to get it back at first, but later decided that she needed the damn arm anyway. She wore the pearl in a string around her neck, and now had Marduk's faceplate (which they had found in the search) as a belt buckle. She would always have it as a remainder of the reploid who had once tried to protect her.

Nightwolf had vanished after the destruction of the last O.B.S. Many thought that he might have simply gone Maverick and would probably need to be dealt with later. In fact, he had become Maverick, but had no intention of fighting or terrorizing anyone. That was Vile's thing, and he despised Vile. Today he was visiting the General's grave to pay his respects. The General had been given the 'honor' of being buried amongst the human generals. It was the humans way of thanking Repleforce for their great loyalty and even greater sacrifice.

Nightwolf called it bureaucratic bullshit.

"Hey, General," he said. "It's all over now. Well, for now anyway. I don't doubt X will rise from the dead again. And when he does, there'll be plenty of Mavericks who'll want to cut their names into his chest. That is, unless I have anything to say about it."

He took out his beam rifle and placed it in front of his General's tombstone as his offering. He knew nobody would dare to touch it, undoubtedly because they thought it was booby-trapped. He wondered who started those stupid rumors.

"Nobody will kill X," he said. His left eye began to glow. "I'm the only one who has _that_ particular right, and anyone who says otherwise is going to have to answer to me." He gave his General a casual military salute. "You'll see, Rexford. When I come back, I'll be a legend. Until then, rest in peace."

He vanished after that, and nobody had heard of him since.

"So, any sign of any of them?," asked Axl.

"No," said Ina sadly. "Maybe they were pulverized in the atmosphere."

"We can't give up hope yet!," said Lina. "We just have to look harder!"

"Yeah!," Axl said confidently. "Let's keep looking, Ina!"

Ina laughed. "You two make quite the couple, don't you?"

They both blushed violently.

"She's right," said Signas, who stepped out of the nearby mobile command center. "You two make an excellent team."

"I don't think that's what she meant," said Lina while trying to suppress a giggle.

"No?," asked Signas. "Then what?"

"Never mind," said Ina, and the three laughed heartily. Signas remained confused for a moment, then it hit him.

"Oh," he said. "Well, you'd make a good couple too."

"C-commander!," said Axl, now blushing even more.

"It's okay," said Lina, holding his hand. Axl looked like he was about to blow steam. "Commander Signas!," said one of the rescue personnel. "I think we found something!"

They all looked at each other and dashed towards the reploid. They found themselves standing in front a large piece of metal plating; at least the size of a minivan. There were various other rescue personnel using specialized metal detectors. These were designed to detect the unique materials that most reploids were made of, including X and Zero.

The rescue leader said, "We're waiting for the crane to arrive to move the plate, and--"

"No time!," said Axl, and he dashed towards the metal plate and tried to lift it.

"Y-you can't lift that!," said the rescue leader. "That's a ton of titanium!"

"We'll see," said Ina, who also went down to help him.

"Please!," said the rescue leader. "Commander, you have to--" He stopped suddenly when he realized that Signas was also lending a hand. Ina's right arm began to glow and her veins began to throb. Lina jumped to the other end, wrapped the metal plate with her wires and began to pull.

"This is pointless!," said the rescue leader. "Please stop! Lieutenant Ina, you could get a hernia at this rate!" He gasped loudly. The plate was beginning to give way. "I don't believe it!," he said aghast.

With a collective cry, the group was able to move the plate aside, to the astonishment of everyone around them. They looked at two slightly buried bodies that had been hiding under the steel plate. One was blue, and the other was red. Strands of hair were sticking out of the red armor. Hope glowed in each of everyone's faces. After all…

_Legends never die._


End file.
